Le couvent des Cordeliers fut construit au XIIIe siècle, vers 1236, à l'emplacement d'un ancien prieuré bénédictin.

Il est l’une des premières fondations franciscaines en Provence. Il fut édifié dans une demeure donnée par Raymond Bérenger V de Provence, comte de Forcalquier.

Le couvent fut endommagé pendant les guerres de religion ; mal entretenu par la suite, il périclita, et ne compta que deux religieux lors de la Révolution française. En 1791, déserté par les moines, il fut vendu comme bien national et transformé en exploitation agricole.

Devenu propriété de la commune, il est restauré à partir de 1963.

 

La façade de l’église est située sous le bâtiment de l'ancienne Poste. Il subsiste encore, autour du cloître gothique (début du XJVe siècle) reconstitué, l'ensemble des salles conventuelles et une chapelle secondaire du XVe siècle, un ossuaire et une crypte. L'oratoire abrite une Vierge à l’Enfant en bois sculpté du XVe siècle. Le cloître donne sur un jardin médiéval, les salles conventuelles ont gardé leur mobilier, leur statuaire. La bibliothèque possède un plafond d'origine, le scriptorium est situé à côté. La terrasse offre un vaste panorama. Enfin subsistent les vestiges de l'église.

 

Le couvent est actuellement siège de l'Université européenne des senteurs et saveurs.

  

Tour Abbatiale de Saint-Amand-les-Eaux

 

L'abbaye de Saint-Amand, initialement abbaye d'Elnon, installée à Saint-Amand-les-Eaux (Nord), fut en activité de 639 à 1790. Elle fut dès le ixe siècle un centre culturel important, avec une bibliothèque et un scriptorium de production de manuscrits, tels que la Bible de Charles Le Chauve, et des écolâtres célèbres tels que Milon (mort en 872) et Hucbald (mort en 930).

 

Une des plus anciennes abbayes de France, elle fut plusieurs fois réduite en cendres, au point que les annalistes ont découpé son histoire selon les grandes périodes séparant chaque incendie...

  

Abbey Tower of Saint-Amand-les-Eaux

 

The abbey of Saint-Amand, initially Abbey Elnon, based in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux (North), was active from 639 to 1790. It was from the ninth century an important cultural center with a library and a scriptorium production of manuscripts such as the Bible of Charles the Bald, and famous écolâtres such as Milon (died 872) and Hucbald (died 930).

 

One of the oldest abbeys in France, she was repeatedly burnt down to the point that the annalists carved its history as the great periods between each fire ...

Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Santes Creus

 

Monastery of Santa Maria de Santes Creus is a Cistercian monastery in the municipality of Aiguamúrcia, Catalonia, Spain.

 

The monastery's origins date to 1158, when the Lords of Montagut y de Albá donated the village of Santes Creus to the monks of Valdaura. The papal decree that was required to establish a monastery was made by Pope Alexander II, and construction of the monastery began in 1174. The complex was completed in 1225.

 

King Peter III of Aragon chose to be buried in the Monastery of Santes Creus, as did his son James II (1276–1285) and his wife, Blanche of Anjou. James II had a section of the abbey turned royal rooms, the original Romanesque cloister rebuilt in the Gothic style of the 13th century, and a dome added to the church's crossing. The walls were built under King Peter IV. From the time of Peter IV, the royal favour was transferred to the Monastery of Poblet.

 

The monastic complex continued to expand during the 17th and 18th century, until, following the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal in 1835, the Cistercians left and building activities ceased. The monastery was declared a national monument in 1921.

 

The complex, built in accordance with Cistercian principles, included a church, a cloister, chapter house and dormitory. There were also a refectory, parlor, and scriptorium (writing hall). The complex is built in honey coloured stone, and the main buildings, including the church, have rooflines finished with crenellations.

 

The church, started in 1174, was finished around 1225. It was consecrated in 1211. It has a Latin cross plan, with a nave and lower aisles of six bays. The arms of the transept, which are the same width as the nave, each end in an apsidal chapel which is barely visible from the exterior. The chancel is rectangular, ending in the presbytery. The crossing is surmounted by a dome raised on a tall octagonal drum in Gothic style, and topped by a Baroque lantern.

 

The main façade has a Romanesque portal from the 12th century, surmounted by a large Gothic stained glass window. The apse is characterized by a rose window and, below, three small ogival windows, which are now hidden behind the high altar in the interior.

 

Each bay of the interior has a quadripartite vault, between broad, slightly pointed arches rising from square piers.

 

As in many other Cistercian churches, the interior has no decoration, aside from the tombs and the altarpiece by Josep Tremulles, dating to 1640.

 

The sepulchre of King Peter III was executed from 1291 to 1307 by Bartomeu de Gerona, and looks richer than those of his son (and commissioner of the work), James II, and of the latter's wife, Blanche of Naples. It consists of an urn surrounded by the images of saints, placed over a red porphyry Roman bath brought here by admiral Roger de Lauria.

 

The mausoleum of James II and his wife Blanche was created by Bertrán Riquer in 1313-1315. The tombs are in marble, with portraits of the two monarchs, wearing Cistercian attires, lying on the two slopes of the sepulchre's top.

 

The original cloister was a Romanesque structure, dating to the late 12th-early 13th century. All that remains of the first cloister is a hexagonal central shrine, containing the laundry

 

By request of King James II, the original cloister was largely demolished and replaced by a Gothic cloister designed by the English master Reynard of Fonoll, whose work was continued by his disciple Guillem de Seguer. The style of tracery which fills the upper parts of each ogival opening in the cloister arcade varies from English Geometric to Catalan in design. The clustered columns have highly ornamented capitals with foliate, animal and human figures, as well as biblical scenes. Recesses in the walls house tombs of several Catalan noblemen, and show remains of paintings, one representing the Annunciation.

 

The cloister can be accessed from the monastery's external square through the Porta de l'Assumpta or Porta Reial ("Royal Gate"), a Romanesque portal.

 

The chapter house follows the typical design of the Cistercian monasteries, being located in the center of the cloister's eastern wing and separated from the sacristy by the end of the church's transept. The orientation of the room admits the morning light through three windows opening in the eastern wall. The entrance from the cloister is through a Romanesque portal framed on either side by a large mullioned window of equal height, the three openings forming a triple arcade. The hall has a square plan, divided into nine cross vaulted sections by four central columns.

 

The dormitory is a large (c. 46 x 11 m), undecorated hall without any partitions for the monks, who, initially slept on straw mattresses lying on the floor. The wooden rafters are supported on a series of ogival stone arches that spring from corbels in the side walls.

 

This is a good article. Follow the link for more information.

Armenian Quarter

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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For other Armenian quarters, see List of Armenian ethnic enclaves.

 

Map of the Armenian Quarter, without the area considered by Israel as part of the Jewish Quarter (centre right). The monastery (Patriarchate) compound is shown in grey. The Cathedral of St. James is shown in darker grey.

The Armenian Quarter (Arabic: حارة الأرمن‎, Harat al-Arman; Hebrew: הרובע הארמני‎, Ha-Rova ha-Armeni; Armenian: Հայոց թաղ, Hayots t'agh)[1][2][a] is one of the four quarters of the walled Old City of Jerusalem. Located in the southwestern corner of the Old City, it can be accessed through the Zion Gate and Jaffa Gate. It occupies an area of 0.126 km² (126 dunam), which is 14% of the Old City's total. In 2007, it had a population of 2,424 (6.55% of Old City's total). In both criteria, it is comparable to the Jewish Quarter. The Armenian Quarter is separated from the Christian Quarter by David Street (Suq el-Bazaar) and from the Jewish Quarter by Habad Street (Suq el-Husur).

 

The Armenian presence in Jerusalem dates back to the 4th century AD, when Armenia adopted Christianity as a national religion and Armenian monks settled in Jerusalem. Hence, it is considered the oldest living diaspora community outside the Armenian homeland. Gradually, the quarter developed around the St. James Monastery—which dominates the quarter—and took its modern shape by the 19th century. The monastery houses the Armenian Apostolic Church's Jerusalem Patriarchate, which was established as a diocese in the 7th century AD. The patriarchate is the de facto administrator of the quarter and acts as a "mini-welfare state" for the Armenian residents. The Armenian community has been in decline since the mid-20th century, and is in immediate danger of disappearing, according to Bert Vaux.

 

Though formally separate from Greek Orthodox and Latin (Catholic) Christians, the Armenians consider their quarter to be part of the Christian Quarter. The three Christian patriarchates of Jerusalem and the government of Armenia have publicly expressed their opposition to any political division of the two quarters. The central reasons for the existence of a separate Armenian Quarter is the miaphysitism and distinct language and culture of the Armenians, who, unlike the majority of Christians in Jerusalem (also in Israel and Palestine), are neither Arab nor Palestinian.[b] However, for all intents and purposes, the Armenians living in the Armenian Quarter are considered Palestinians by Israel and the United Nations (UN). They have faced many of the same restrictions on their lives as have the Palestinians.

  

Contents

1Location, borders and surface

2History

2.1Origins

2.2Byzantine, Arab, and Mamluk periods

2.3Ottoman period

2.4World War I, British, and Jordanian periods

2.5Israeli period

3Demographics

3.1Decline of Armenian population

4Landmarks and institutions

4.1Armenian

4.2Other (non-Armenian)

5Political status and views

5.1Armenian views

5.2U.S. Old City division proposal

5.3Palestinian views

5.4Israeli and Jewish views

5.5Christian views

6See also

7References

8Bibliography

8.1Books & book chapters

8.2Journal articles

8.3Other

9External links

Location, borders and surface

The Armenian Quarter is located in the southwestern corner of Jerusalem's Old City.[5] The quarter can be accessed through the Zion Gate and Jaffa Gate.[6] According to a 2007 study published by the International Peace and Cooperation Center, the quarter occupies an area of 0.126 km² (126 dunam), which is 14% of the Old City's total.[7] The Armenian Quarter is formally separated from the Christian Quarter by David Street (Suq el-Bazaar) and by Habad Street (Suq el-Husur) from the Jewish Quarter.[8]

 

History

Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate Rd. signs in Hebrew (top) , Arabic (middle), English (bottom) and classical Armenian (bottom photo)

  

Origins

In the early 4th century[c] Armenia, under king Tiridates III, became the first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion. A large number of Armenian monks are recorded to have settled in Jerusalem as early as the 4th century,[12][13] after the uncovering of Christian holy places in the city.[14] However, the first written records are from the 5th century.[15] Jerusalem is thus considered the oldest living diaspora community outside the Armenian homeland.[16] Philip Marsden wrote that the survival of Armenians in Jerusalem–"most intense of all cities"—proves their extraordinary resilience.[17] Armenian churches were constructed during that period, including the St. James Monastery.[18] The latter was last expanded in the mid-12th century.[19] An Armenian scriptorium was in operation by the mid-5th century.[20] A secular community composed of merchants and artisans was established in the 6th century in the Zion Quarter, where an Armenian street existed (Ruda Armeniorum).[13][21]

 

Byzantine, Arab, and Mamluk periods

In the First Council of Dvin (506), the Armenian Church broke off from the rest of Christianity by rejecting the dual nature of Christ, which was agreed upon in the Council of Chalcedon of 451. Thus, the Armenians found themselves in direct confrontation with the Byzantine Empire. Emperor Justinian I persecuted the Monophysite Armenians, forcing them to leave Jerusalem.[20]

 

A 7th-century Armenian chronicler mentioned the existence of seventy Armenian monasteries in Palestine, some of which have been revealed in excavations.[12] The Byzantines ceded Jerusalem to the Rashidun Caliphate after a siege in 637. Until this point, Jerusalem had a single Christian bishop. In 638 AD,[20] Armenians established their own archbishop, Abraham I.[22] He was officially recognized by Rashidun Caliph Umar.[23] The foundation of the Armenian migration to Jerusalem thus solidified.[15] In the 12th century, around one thousand Armenians moved to Jerusalem with the Crusaders, presumably mainly from the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.[15]

  

The entrance to St. James monastery

In 1311, during Mamluk rule, Archbishop Sarkis (1281–1313) assumed the title of patriarch according to a decree by Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad.[21] In the 1340s, the Armenians were permitted to build a wall around their quarter. This signified that the Mamluk rulers felt that the quarter did not pose a threat. Destroying city walls and fortifications had been a staple of Mamluk governance in order to prevent the Crusaders from returning and reestablishing their rule. The Mamluk government also engraved the following declaration in Arabic on the western entrance to the quarter:

 

The order of our master Sultan Jaqmaq [has been issued] which stipulates that the taxes levied [ahdaiha] recently by the town governor (?) regarding the payment by the Armenian enclosure [dayr alarmani] be cancelled, ... and it has been requested that this cancellation be recorded in the Honored Books in the year 854 of the Hijra (1451 C.E.). Anyone who renews the payment or again takes any tax of extortion is damned, son of the damned, and the curse of Allah will be upon him.[24]

Jerusalemite historian Mujir al-Din provided a detailed description of pre-Ottoman Jerusalem in 1495 in which he mentioned Dir el-Arman (Monastery of the Armenians) or Kanisat Mar Ya'qub (St. James Cathedral).[25]

 

Ottoman period

 

An Armenian priest in Jerusalem c. 1900 pictured smoking a hookah with the Dormition Abbey in the background

During Ottoman rule, Jerusalem developed into a cosmopolitan city. There was religious tolerance and an Ottoman administration existed to sort out religious differences between the rival Christian churches and Muslims. Israeli historians Kark and Oren-Nordheim wrote in 2001: "The Armenian Quarter, although Christian, represented a distinct ethnic group with its particular language and culture, intent on retaining separate identity and unity, minimizing the contacts with Arabs and the Ottoman authorities for fear of persecution."[26] However, the Armenian community in Jerusalem was Arabic-speaking (in addition to Armenian or European languages) and self-identified with Palestinian society.[27]

 

In 1538, the current walls of Jerusalem were completed on the orders of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. These walls, along with the internal walls built by the Armenians, determined the outline of the quarter. In the 1562–63 record, only 189 Armenians were counted, whereas 640 were counted by the Ottomans in 1690, an increase of 239%.[28] According to the chronicler Simeon Lehatsi only some twelve Armenian families lived in Jerusalem in 1615–16.[13] The significant increase in the population in 1690 is attributed to urbanization experienced by the Armenians and other Christians. Thus Armenians came to make up 22.9% of Jerusalem's Christians by 1690, becoming the second largest Christian community.[28]

 

In the 19th century, most of the Armenian and Christian quarters had "European-style gable roofs" as opposed to the domes preferred in the Muslim and Jewish quarters.[29] In 1833 the Armenians established the city's first printing press.[19][30][31][32] A seminary was opened in 1857.[20] In 1855 the first photographic workshop in Jerusalem was founded in the Armenian Quarter.[19] Schools for boys (1840) and girls (1862) were united in 1869 under the name Holy Translators' School[20] and became the first coeducational school in Jerusalem.[4]

  

An 1883 map of the Old City, showing the four quarters

In 1883, 102 Armenian families (8%) constituted the third largest Christian community in the Old City after the Greek Orthodox and Catholic (Latin) communities.[33] Besides these residents, in the same year, 46 Armenian priests and monks and 55 servicemen lived within the St. James Monastery.[34] According to the 1905 Ottoman census in the Old City, the Armenian Quarter had a population of 382, of which Armenians (121) comprised less than one-third (31.7%). Jews (127) made up 33.2%, other Christians (94) 24.6% and Muslims (40) 10.5%.[35] The Jews, who numbered a little more than the Armenians, inhabited the eastern part of the Armenian Quarter, which in the second half of the nineteenth century, became the western part of the Jewish Quarter.[36]

 

World War I, British, and Jordanian periods

Prior to World War I, there were some 2,000–3,000 Armenians in Palestine, mostly in Jerusalem, which was captured by the British in 1917. From 1915 and onward, thousands of Armenian Genocide survivors from Cilicia (Adana Vilayet) found refuge, and settled in the quarter, increasing its population. [37][38] In 1925, around 15,000 Armenians are believed to have lived in all of Palestine, with the majority in Jerusalem.[39] During the British Mandate period, the number of Armenians is estimated to have reached up to 20,000.[39][31] However, the 1931 British census showed only 3,524 Armenians in all of Palestine.[39]

 

In 1947, around 1,500 Armenians from Palestine repatriated to Soviet Armenia as part of the Soviet government's efforts to boost Armenia's population by a large-scale repatriation of ethnic Armenians, mostly from the Middle East. This marked the beginning of the long-term decline of the Armenian community of Jerusalem.[40] During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Armenian Quarter was damaged by bombs.[5] It housed many Armenians from around Palestine. An Armenian civil guard, armed with what Der Matossian describes as "makeshift weapons", was formed to defend the quarter. Over 40 Armenians died during the war.[41]

 

Israeli period

Jerusalem's Old City came under Israeli control in the aftermath of the Six-Day War in 1967. However, the Armenian patriarchate is the de facto administrator of the quarter and acts as a "mini-welfare state" for the Armenian residents.[4] The Arab-Israeli conflict significantly impacted the quarter's politically uninvolved Armenian population. A 1992 article published by the Catholic Near East Welfare Association stated that "Armenians in Jerusalem try to maintain good relations with Arabs and Israelis, but they do not deny that their community has been affected by tensions in the city."[19]

El monestir de Santa Maria de Poblet és fundat el 1150, i en acabar el segle XII, tenim construïts l'església, el refetor dels monjos, una part del claustre, i la infermeria amb el claustre i la capella de Sant Esteve. Durant el segle XIII s'acaba, en la seva pràctica totalitat, el conjunt monumental, amb totes les estances que els monjos necessiten per a la seva vida regular: la sala capitular, el dormitori, el claustre, la cuina, l'scriptorium i el refetor dels conversos; l'hospital per als pobres i pelegrins, amb la capella de Santa Caterina. Durant els segles posteriors s'hi afegiran altres elements, que ja no podem considerar indispensables per a la vida dels monjos: el cimbori i les muralles, amb el panteó i les altres construccions reials, la capella de Sant Jordi, al llarg dels segles XIV i XV; el campanar i el retaule, del segle XVI; la sagristia nova i les cases noves, del segle XVIII, entre altres construccions, funcionals o decoratives, que expliquen la vitalitat del cenobi i responen a diverses vicissituds històriques, i també a les circumstàncies econòmiques de cada època.

 

La façana de l'Església Major fou construïda entre 1669 i 1717, sufragada per Lluís Ramon Folc de Cardona, per substituir l'antiga portada romànica. El conjunt barroc consta d'una gran portalada de dos pisos, flanquejada per dos òculs profusament ornamentats. La porta és rectangular i està presidida per l'Assumpció de la Verge. A banda i banda hi ha sengles imatges de sant Bernat de Claravall i sant Benet de Núrsia. Les imatges van ser esculpides per Domènec Rovira el Jove. Les columnes salomòniques que emmarquen les finestres són del 1720-24.

 

L'església actual, que no és la primera, va ser bastida al darrer terç del segle XII dins un estil encara plenament romànic. Té planta basilical de tres naus amb creuer i un absis semicircular voltat de deambulatori i capelles radials. la volta és de canó, lleugerament apuntada, reforçada amb arcs torals que arrenquen d'unes semi-columnes adossades als pilars cruciformes que separen les naus. En canvi, les naus laterals estan cobertes amb volta de creueria gòtica. La del costat de l'Epístola va ser refeta entre 1316 i 1348, quan es va iniciar també el cimbori vuitavat.

 

Per saber-ne més, visiteu el lloc web del monestir de Poblet.

 

Pàgina a la UNESCO World Heritage List.

 

A Google Maps.

Aussi appelé le "Monastère de la lance" car il a possédé pendant 5 siècles la relique de la lance qui a blessé le Christ sur la croix.

Le monastère a été fondé au IV ème siècle par St Grégoire l'Illuminateur mais l'ensemble du temple a été achevé au XIII ème siècle. Il a été un centre culturel important avec une école, un scriptorium...Il est en partie troglodytique.

Depuis 2000 le monastère est sur la Liste du Patrimoine de l'UNESCO.

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Díaz_de_Vivar

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cid

 

El monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña es una abadía trapense situada en el término municipal de Castrillo del Val, a 10 km del centro de Burgos (España). Actualmente, está considerado como BIC (Bien de Interés Cultural). Fue declarado Monumento histórico-artístico perteneciente al Tesoro Artístico Nacional mediante decreto de 3 de junio de 1931. En 2015, en la aprobación por la Unesco de la ampliación del Camino de Santiago en España a «Caminos de Santiago de Compostela: Camino francés y Caminos del Norte de España», España envió como documentación un «Inventario Retrospectivo - Elementos Asociados» (Retrospective Inventory - Associated Components) en el que en el n.º 979 figura el monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña.

El monasterio se habrá fundado antes de 902 cuando el conde de Lantarón y de Cerezo, Gonzalo Téllez y su esposa Flámula realizaron la primera donación documentada al cenobio el 24 de septiembre de ese año de una serna en Pedernales y unas eras de sal.

En los siglos IX o X sus monjes fueron martirizados por los musulmanes, canonizados en 1603 y conocidos como los «Mártires de Cardeña». El monasterio gozaba de gran popularidad con gran afluencia de devotos, entre los que se encontraban el rey Felipe III de España y su esposa la reina Doña Margarita de Austria. Una de sus preciadas reliquias, la cabeza de su abad San Esteban, fue trasladada al Monasterio de Celanova; también se encuentran dos urnas en el Monasterio de la Huelgas y otra en la Catedral de Burgos.

Cada año, el 6 de agosto, aniversario del martirio, la tierra del claustro donde fueron sepultados los mártires, se teñía de un color rojizo que parecía sangre. El milagroso prodigio, ampliamente testificado, se repite hasta finales del siglo XIV. El año 1674 ya una vez levantado el nuevo claustro de estilo herreriano se reprodujo el hecho, personándose el arzobispo Enrique de Peralta, que vivamente impresionado encargó un estudio, interviniendo médicos y teólogos. Recogió el líquido, coaguló al ser puesto en agua hirviendo.

El 1 de febrero de 1967 un violento incendio destruyó las tres cuartas partes del monasterio, habitado desde 1942 por la abadía trapense de Nuestra Señora de los Mártires.

La prosperidad del monasterio en la época altomedieval se refleja en la calidad de su scriptorium, en el que el monje Endura realizó obras extraordinarias.

El Beato de San Pedro de Cardeña fue realizado entre los años 1175 y 1180, cuenta con 290 páginas y 51 miniaturas. 127 folios se encuentran en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional de Madrid, dos en la Biblioteca Francisco de Zabálburu, también en Madrid (donde también se halla el Cartulario de San Pedro de Cardeña), uno en el Museo Diocesano de Gerona y otros quince en el Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York.

Desde la sala capitular, que data del siglo XIII, se divisa a través de grandes cristaleras el claustro románico, que data del siglo XII. Compuesto por arquería de medio punto sobre columnas únicas que descansan sobre fustes robustos y coronadas de capiteles que imitan el estilo corintio. Los arcos recuerdan en su decoración a los de la mezquita de Córdoba por su policromía, alternando los colores blanco y rojo. En la pared izquierda se encuentran unas antiquísimas piedras cuya inscripción recuerda el trágico suceso.

Para construir esta iglesia de tres naves se destruyó la románica, aunque afortunadamente se salvó la torre, legítimo recuerdo cidiano. Reedificada en el siglo XVI, consta de tres naves, con una capilla aneja, denominada capilla de El Cid, ya que allí fue enterrado, y permaneció antes de su traslado a la catedral de Burgos. La fachada de la iglesia es de estilo barroco.

En el lateral derecho de la iglesia gótica, se abre una capilla barroca que data de 1753 a la que fueron trasladados los restos del Cid Campeador y su esposa Jimena. En las paredes de esta estancia llamada «Capilla de los Héroes», hay 29 nichos con inscripciones de nombres de reyes y familiares del Cid.

Según el Cantar de mio Cid y las tradiciones posteriores, antes de marchar al destierro, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar dejó en San Pedro de Cardeña, al amparo del abad Sancho (que la crítica ha identificado con Sisebuto de Cardeña atribuyendo una confusión al autor del Cantar), a su esposa Doña Jimena y a sus hijas, aunque este hecho no está atestiguado por pruebas históricas. En el primer destierro de 1081, las propiedades de Rodrigo Díaz no le fueron enajenadas, y la familia del Cid pudo seguir residiendo en sus casas. En el segundo, de 1089, la familia fue presa por mandato de Alfonso VI en un castillo, quizá Gormaz, para reunirse con el Campeador poco después.

El enterramiento del Cid en San Pedro de Cardeña no fue debido a la voluntad personal de Rodrigo Díaz. A su muerte en 1099 fue inhumado en la catedral de Valencia, por lo que solo en 1102, tras tener que abandonar Jimena Díaz la plaza levantina, fueron trasladados sus restos al cenobio cardeniense. Allí permaneció durante algunos años su cuerpo embalsamado y sentado en un escaño del presbiterio. Desde ese momento se generaron allí una serie de narraciones de carácter hagiográfico que hacia 1280 constituyeron un corpus conocido como Leyenda de Cardeña cuyo propósito fue vincular al Cid con el monasterio de Cardeña, con el que en vida había tenido escasa relación. Estos materiales legendarios se incorporaron a la Versión sanchina de la Estoria de España o Crónica de veinte reyes, que puede datarse entre 1282 y 1284. En el siglo XIV el monasterio caradignense estimuló el culto a las reliquias cidianas, en cuyo contexto se redactó el Epitafio épico del Cid y, posiblemente, se encargara o elaborara, a partir de un ejemplar tomado en préstamo, el códice con la copia de 1325–1330 en el que se conserva el Cantar de mio Cid. En el claustro nuevo una lápida recuerda el lugar que ocupaba su sepulcro.

En la explanada situada frente a la fachada principal, en la que aparece una imagen ecuestre del Cid Campeador, hay una estatua del Sagrado Corazón, y a la izquierda un monolito con leyenda alusiva al caballo Babieca. Coincide con el lugar donde una creencia tradicional considera que fue sepultado el animal.

En el monasterio se conserva la bodega románica más antigua de España en uso comercial, donde se elabora el tinto Valdevegón con uva de La Rioja. Y también un licor llamado Tizona del Cid, hecho con unas 30 hierbas que maceran en barricas de roble. En 2016 se convierte en el primer monasterio español en producir cerveza trapense, la cerveza Cardeña.

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monasterio_de_San_Pedro_de_Cardeña

 

monasteriosanpedrodecardena.blogspot.com

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyenda_de_Cardeña

 

en.caminodelcid.org/places/monastery-of-san-pedro-de-card...

 

Cerveza Cardeña - Monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña (valdevegon.com)

 

The monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña is a Trappist abbey located in the municipality of Castrillo del Val, 10 km from the center of Burgos (Spain). Currently, it is considered as BIC (Asset of Cultural Interest). It was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument belonging to the National Artistic Treasure by decree of June 3, 1931. In 2015, in the approval by Unesco of the extension of the Camino de Santiago in Spain to «Roads of Santiago de Compostela: French Way and Roads Northern Spain ", Spain sent as documentation a" Retrospective Inventory - Associated Components "in which the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña is listed in No. 979.

The monastery will have been founded before 902 when the count of Lantarón and Cerezo, Gonzalo Téllez and his wife, Flámula, made the first documented donation to the monastery on September 24 of that year of a serna in Pedernales and some salt eras.

In the 9th or 10th centuries its monks were martyred by the Muslims, canonized in 1603 and known as the "Martyrs of Cardeña." The monastery enjoyed great popularity with a large influx of devotees, among whom were King Felipe III of Spain and his wife, Queen Doña Margarita of Austria. One of his precious relics, the head of his abbot San Esteban, was transferred to the Monastery of Celanova; There are also two urns in the Monastery of La Huelgas and another in the Cathedral of Burgos.

Every year, on August 6, the anniversary of the martyrdom, the ground of the cloister where the martyrs were buried was stained a reddish color that looked like blood. The miraculous prodigy, widely witnessed, is repeated until the end of the fourteenth century. In 1674, once the new Herrerian-style cloister was erected, the event was reproduced, with the appearance of Archbishop Enrique de Peralta, who, greatly impressed, commissioned a study, involving doctors and theologians. He collected the liquid, it coagulated when put in boiling water.

On February 1, 1967, a violent fire destroyed three-quarters of the monastery, inhabited since 1942 by the Trappist Abbey of Our Lady of the Martyrs.

The prosperity of the monastery in the high medieval era is reflected in the quality of its scriptorium, in which the monk Endura carried out extraordinary works.

The Beatus of San Pedro de Cardeña was made between the years 1175 and 1180, it has 290 pages and 51 miniatures. 127 pages are in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid, two in the Francisco de Zabálburu Library, also in Madrid (where the Cartulary of San Pedro de Cardeña is also found), one in the Diocesan Museum of Gerona and another fifteen in the Museum Metropolitan of Art of New York.

From the chapter house, which dates from the 13th century, you can see through large windows the Romanesque cloister, which dates from the 12th century. Composed of semicircular arches on unique columns that rest on robust shafts and crowned with capitals that imitate the Corinthian style. The arches in their decoration are reminiscent of those of the Cordoba mosque due to their polychrome, alternating white and red colors. On the left wall are some ancient stones whose inscription recalls the tragic event.

To build this church with three naves, the Romanesque was destroyed, although fortunately the tower, a legitimate Cidian memory, was saved. Rebuilt in the 16th century, it consists of three naves, with an attached chapel, called the El Cid Chapel, since he was buried there, and remained before his transfer to the Burgos Cathedral. The facade of the church is in the Baroque style.

On the right side of the Gothic church, there is a baroque chapel dating from 1753 to which the remains of the Cid Campeador and his wife Jimena were transferred. On the walls of this room called "Capilla de los Héroes", there are 29 niches with inscriptions of the names of kings and relatives of the Cid.

According to the Cantar de mio Cid and later traditions, before going into exile, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar left in San Pedro de Cardeña, under the protection of Abbot Sancho (who the critic has identified with Sisebuto de Cardeña attributing a confusion to the author of the Cantar ), his wife Doña Jimena and their daughters, although this fact is not attested by historical evidence. In the first exile in 1081, Rodrigo Díaz's properties were not alienated from him, and the Cid family was able to continue residing in his houses. In the second, in 1089, the family was imprisoned by order of Alfonso VI in a castle, perhaps Gormaz, to meet with the Campeador shortly after.

The burial of the Cid in San Pedro de Cardeña was not due to the personal will of Rodrigo Díaz. Upon his death in 1099 he was buried in the cathedral of Valencia, so that only in 1102, after Jimena Díaz had to leave the Levantine square, were his remains transferred to the Cardenian monastery. His body remained there for some years, embalmed and seated on a bench in the presbytery. From that moment on, a series of hagiographic narratives were generated there, which around 1280 constituted a corpus known as the Leyenda de Cardeña whose purpose was to link the Cid with the Cardeña monastery, with which in life he had had little relationship. These legendary materials were incorporated into the Sanchina Version of the Estoria de España or Chronicle of Twenty Kings, which can be dated between 1282 and 1284. In the 14th century, the Caradignense monastery stimulated the cult of Cidian relics, in which context the Epitaph was written. epic of the Cid and, possibly, the codex with the copy of 1325–1330 in which the Cantar de mio Cid is preserved, was commissioned or elaborated from a borrowed copy. In the new cloister a tombstone recalls the place occupied by his tomb.

On the esplanade in front of the main façade, in which an equestrian image of the Cid Campeador appears, there is a statue of the Sacred Heart, and on the left a monolith with a legend alluding to the Babieca horse. It coincides with the place where a traditional belief considers that the animal was buried.

The monastery houses the oldest Romanesque winery in Spain in commercial use, where the red Valdevegón is made with grapes from La Rioja. And also a liqueur called Tizona del Cid, made with about 30 herbs that are macerated in oak barrels. In 2016 it became the first Spanish monastery to produce Trappist beer, Cardeña beer.

 

Wells Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England, dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, whose cathedra it holds as mother church of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Built as a Roman Catholic cathedral from around 1175 to replace an earlier church on the site since 705, it became an Anglican cathedral when King Henry VIII split from Rome. It is moderately sized for an English cathedral. Its broad west front and large central tower are dominant features. It has been called "unquestionably one of the most beautiful" and "most poetic" of English cathedrals.

 

Its Gothic architecture is mostly inspired from Early English style of the late 12th to early 13th centuries, lacking the Romanesque work that survives in many other cathedrals. Building began about 1175 at the east end with the choir. Historian John Harvey sees it as Europe's first truly Gothic structure, breaking the last constraints of Romanesque. The stonework of its pointed arcades and fluted piers bears pronounced mouldings and carved capitals in a foliate, "stiff-leaf" style. Its Early English front with 300 sculpted figures is seen as a "supreme triumph of the combined plastic arts in England". The east end retains much ancient stained glass. Unlike many cathedrals of monastic foundation, Wells has many surviving secular buildings linked to its chapter of secular canons, including the Bishop's Palace and the 15th-century residential Vicars' Close It is a Grade I listed building.

 

The earliest remains of a building on the site are of a late-Roman mausoleum, identified during excavations in 1980. An abbey church was built in Wells in 705 by Aldhelm, first bishop of the newly established Diocese of Sherborne during the reign of King Ine of Wessex. It was dedicated to St Andrew and stood at the site of the cathedral's cloisters, where some excavated remains can be seen. The font in the cathedral's south transept is from this church and is the oldest part of the present building. In 766 Cynewulf, King of Wessex, signed a charter endowing the church with eleven hides of land. In 909 the seat of the diocese was moved from Sherborne to Wells.

 

The first bishop of Wells was Athelm (909), who crowned King Æthelstan. Athelm and his nephew Dunstan both became Archbishops of Canterbury. During this period a choir of boys was established to sing the liturgy. Wells Cathedral School, which was established to educate these choirboys, dates its foundation to this point. There is, however, some controversy over this. Following the Norman Conquest, John de Villula moved the seat of the bishop from Wells to Bath in 1090. The church at Wells, no longer a cathedral, had a college of secular clergy.

 

The cathedral is thought to have been conceived and commenced in about 1175 by Reginald Fitz Jocelin, who died in 1191. Although it is clear from its size that from the outset, the church was planned to be the cathedral of the diocese, the seat of the bishop moved between Wells and the abbeys of Glastonbury and Bath, before settling at Wells. In 1197 Reginald's successor, Savaric FitzGeldewin, with the approval of Pope Celestine III, officially moved his seat to Glastonbury Abbey. The title of Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury was used until the Glastonbury claim was abandoned in 1219.

 

Savaric's successor, Jocelin of Wells, again moved the bishop's seat to Bath Abbey, with the title Bishop of Bath. Jocelin was a brother of Hugh (II) of Lincoln and was present at the signing of the Magna Carta. Jocelin continued the building campaign begun by Reginald and was responsible for the Bishop's Palace, the choristers' school, a grammar school, a hospital for travellers and a chapel. He also had a manor house built at Wookey, near Wells. Jocelin saw the church dedicated in 1239 but, despite much lobbying of the Pope by Jocelin's representatives in Rome, did not live to see cathedral status granted. The delay may have been a result of inaction by Pandulf Verraccio, a Roman ecclesiastical politician, papal legate to England and Bishop of Norwich, who was asked by the Pope to investigate the situation but did not respond. Jocelin died at Wells on 19 November 1242 and was buried in the choir of the cathedral; the memorial brass on his tomb is one of the earliest brasses in England. Following his death the monks of Bath unsuccessfully attempted to regain authority over Wells.

 

In 1245 the ongoing dispute over the title of the bishop was resolved by a ruling of Pope Innocent IV, who established the title as the "Bishop of Bath and Wells", which it has remained until this day, with Wells as the principal seat of the bishop. Since the 11th century the church has had a chapter of secular clergy, like the cathedrals of Chichester, Hereford, Lincoln and York. The chapter was endowed with 22 prebends (lands from which finance was drawn) and a provost to manage them. On acquiring cathedral status, in common with other such cathedrals, it had four chief clergy, the dean, precentor, chancellor and sacristan, who were responsible for the spiritual and material care of the cathedral.

 

The building programme, begun by Reginald Fitz Jocelin, Bishop in the 12th century, continued under Jocelin of Wells, who was a canon from 1200, then bishop from 1206. Adam Locke was master mason from about 1192 until 1230. It was designed in the new style with pointed arches, later known as Gothic, which was introduced at about the same time at Canterbury Cathedral. Work was halted between 1209 and 1213 when King John was excommunicated and Jocelin was in exile, but the main parts of the church were complete by the time of the dedication by Jocelin in 1239.

 

By the time the cathedral, including the chapter house, was finished in 1306, it was already too small for the developing liturgy, and unable to accommodate increasingly grand processions of clergy. John Droxford initiated another phase of building under master mason Thomas of Whitney, during which the central tower was heightened and an eight-sided Lady chapel was added at the east end by 1326. Ralph of Shrewsbury followed, continuing the eastward extension of the choir and retrochoir beyond. He oversaw the building of Vicars' Close and the Vicars' Hall, to give the men who were employed to sing in the choir a secure place to live and dine, away from the town and its temptations. He had an uneasy relationship with the citizens of Wells, partly because of his imposition of taxes, and he surrounded his palace with crenellated walls, a moat and a drawbridge.

 

John Harewell raised money for the completion of the west front by William Wynford, who was appointed as master mason in 1365. One of the foremost master masons of his time, Wynford worked for the king at Windsor, Winchester Cathedral and New College, Oxford. At Wells, he designed the western towers of which north-west was not built until the following century. In the 14th century, the central piers of the crossing were found to be sinking under the weight of the crossing tower which had been damaged by an earthquake in the previous century. Strainer arches, sometimes described as scissor arches, were inserted by master mason William Joy to brace and stabilise the piers as a unit.

 

By the reign of Henry VII the cathedral was complete, appearing much as it does today (though the fittings have changed). From 1508 to 1546, the eminent Italian humanist scholar Polydore Vergil was active as the chapter's representative in London. He donated a set of hangings for the choir of the cathedral. While Wells survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries better than the cathedrals of monastic foundation, the abolition of chantries in 1547 resulted in a reduction in its income. Medieval brasses were sold, and a pulpit was placed in the nave for the first time. Between 1551 and 1568, in two periods as dean, William Turner established a herb garden, which was recreated between 2003 and 2010.

 

Elizabeth I gave the chapter and the Vicars Choral a new charter in 1591, creating a new governing body, consisting of a dean and eight residentiary canons with control over the church estates and authority over its affairs, but no longer entitled to elect the dean (that entitlement thenceforward belonged ultimately to the Crown). The stability brought by the new charter ended with the onset of the Civil War and the execution of Charles I. Local fighting damaged the cathedral's stonework, furniture and windows. The dean, Walter Raleigh, a nephew of the explorer Walter Raleigh, was placed under house arrest after the fall of Bridgwater to the Parliamentarians in 1645, first in the rectory at Chedzoy and then in the deanery at Wells. His jailor, the shoe maker and city constable, David Barrett, caught him writing a letter to his wife. When he refused to surrender it, Barrett ran him through with a sword and he died six weeks later, on 10 October 1646. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the choir before the dean's stall. During the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell no dean was appointed and the cathedral fell into disrepair. The bishop went into retirement and some of the clerics were reduced to performing menial tasks.

 

In 1661, after Charles II was restored to the throne, Robert Creighton, the king's chaplain in exile, was appointed dean and was bishop for two years before his death in 1672. His brass lectern, given in thanksgiving, can be seen in the cathedral. He donated the nave's great west window at a cost of £140. Following Creighton's appointment as bishop, the post of dean went to Ralph Bathurst, who had been chaplain to the king, president of Trinity College, Oxford and fellow of the Royal Society. During Bathurst's long tenure the cathedral was restored, but in the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, Puritan soldiers damaged the west front, tore lead from the roof to make bullets, broke the windows, smashed the organ and furnishings, and for a time stabled their horses in the nave.

 

Restoration began again under Thomas Ken who was appointed by the Crown in 1685 and served until 1691. He was one of seven bishops imprisoned for refusing to sign King James II's "Declaration of Indulgence", which would have enabled Catholics to resume positions of political power, but popular support led to their acquittal. Ken refused to take the oath of allegiance to William III and Mary II because James II had not abdicated and with others, known as the Nonjurors, was put out of office. His successor, Richard Kidder, was killed in the Great Storm of 1703 when two chimney stacks on the palace fell on him and his wife, while they were asleep in bed.

 

By the middle of the 19th century, a major restoration programme was needed. Under Dean Goodenough, the monuments were moved to the cloisters and the remaining medieval paint and whitewash removed in an operation known as "the great scrape". Anthony Salvin took charge of the extensive restoration of the choir. Wooden galleries installed in the 16th century were removed and the stalls were given stone canopies and placed further back within the line of the arcade. The medieval stone pulpitum screen was extended in the centre to support a new organ.

 

In 1933 the Friends of Wells Cathedral were formed to support the cathedral's chapter in the maintenance of the fabric, life and work of the cathedral. The late 20th century saw an extensive restoration programme, particularly of the west front. The stained glass is currently under restoration, with a programme underway to conserve the large 14th-century Jesse Tree window at the eastern terminal of the choir.

 

In January 2014, as part of the Bath film festival, the cathedral hosted a special screening of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. This provoked some controversy, but the church defended its decision to allow the screening.

 

In 2021, a contemporary sculpture by Anthony Gormley was unveiled on a temporary plinth outside the cathedral.

 

Since the 13th century, Wells Cathedral has been the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Its governing body, the chapter, is made up of five clerical canons (the dean, the precentor, the canon chancellor, the canon treasurer, and the archdeacon of Wells) and four lay members: the administrator (chief executive), Keeper of the Fabric, Overseer of the Estate and the chairman of the cathedral shop and catering boards. The current bishop of Bath and Wells is Peter Hancock, who was installed in a service in the cathedral on 7 June 2014. John Davies has been Dean of Wells since 2016.

 

Employed staff include the organist and master of choristers, head Verger archivist, librarian and the staff of the shop, café and restaurant. The chapter is advised by specialists such as architects, archaeologists and financial analysts.

 

More than a thousand services are held every year. There are daily services of Matins, Holy Communion and Choral Evensong, as well as major celebrations of Christian festivals such as Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and saints' days. The cathedral is also used for the baptisms, weddings and funerals of those with close connections to it. In July 2009 the cathedral undertook the funeral of Harry Patch, the last British Army veteran of World War I, who died at the age of 111.

 

Three Sunday services are led by the resident choir in school terms and choral services are sung on weekdays. The cathedral hosts visiting choirs and does outreach work with local schools as part of its Chorister Outreach Project. It is also a venue for musical events such as an annual concert by the Somerset Chamber Choir.

 

Each year about 150,000 people attend services and another 300,000 visit as tourists. Entry is free, but visitors are encouraged to make a donation towards the annual running costs of around £1.5 million in 2015.

 

Construction of the cathedral began in about 1175, to the design of an unknown master-mason. Wells is the first cathedral in England to be built, from its foundation, in Gothic style. According to art historian John Harvey, it is the first truly Gothic cathedral in the world, its architects having entirely dispensed with all features that bound the contemporary east end of Canterbury Cathedral and the earlier buildings of France, such as the east end of the Abbey of Saint Denis, to the Romanesque. Unlike these churches, Wells has clustered piers rather than columns and has a gallery of identical pointed arches rather than the typically Romanesque form of paired openings. The style, with its simple lancet arches without tracery and convoluted mouldings, is known as Early English Gothic.

 

From about 1192 to 1230, Adam Lock, the earliest master-mason at Wells for whom a name is known, continued the transept and nave in the same manner as his predecessor. Lock was also the builder of the north porch, to his own design.

 

The Early English west front was commenced around 1230 by Thomas Norreys, with building and sculpture continuing for thirty years. Its south-west tower was begun 100 years later and constructed between 1365 and 1395, and the north-west tower between 1425 and 1435, both in the Perpendicular Gothic style to the design of William Wynford, who also filled many of the cathedral's early English lancet windows with delicate tracery.

 

The undercroft and chapter house were built by unknown architects between 1275 and 1310, the undercroft in the Early English and the chapter house in the Geometric style of Decorated Gothic architecture. In about 1310 work commenced on the Lady Chapel, to the design of Thomas Witney, who also built the central tower from 1315 to 1322 in the Decorated Gothic style. The tower was later braced internally with arches by William Joy. Concurrent with this work, in 1329–45 Joy made alterations and extensions to the choir, joining it to the Lady Chapel with the retrochoir, the latter in the Flowing Decorated style.

 

Later changes include the Perpendicular vault of the tower and construction of Sugar's Chapel, 1475–1490 by William Smyth. Also, Gothic Revival renovations were made to the choir and pulpitum by Benjamin Ferrey and Anthony Salvin, 1842–1857.

 

Wells has a total length of 415 feet (126 m). Like Canterbury, Lincoln and Salisbury cathedrals, it has the distinctly English arrangement of two transepts, with the body of the church divided into distinct parts: nave, choir, and retro-choir, beyond which extends the Lady Chapel. The façade is wide, with its towers extending beyond the transepts on either side. There is a large projecting porch on the north side of the nave forming an entry into the cathedral. To the north-east is the large octagonal chapter house, entered from the north choir aisle by a passage and staircase. To the south of the nave is a large cloister, unusual in that the northern range, that adjacent the cathedral, was never built.

 

In section, the cathedral has the usual arrangement of a large church: a central nave with an aisle on each side, separated by two arcades. The elevation is in three stages, arcade, triforium gallery and clerestory. The nave is 67 feet (20 m) in height, very low compared to the Gothic cathedrals of France. It has a markedly horizontal emphasis, caused by the triforium having a unique form, a series of identical narrow openings, lacking the usual definition of the bays. The triforium is separated from the arcade by a single horizontal string course that runs unbroken the length of the nave. There are no vertical lines linking the three stages, as the shafts supporting the vault rise above the triforium.

 

The exterior of Wells Cathedral presents a relatively tidy and harmonious appearance since the greater part of the building was executed in a single style, Early English Gothic. This is uncommon among English cathedrals where the exterior usually exhibits a plethora of styles. At Wells, later changes in the Perpendicular style were universally applied, such as filling the Early English lancet windows with simple tracery, the construction of a parapet that encircles the roof, and the addition of pinnacles framing each gable, similar to those around the chapter house and on the west front. At the eastern end there is a proliferation of tracery with repeated motifs in the Reticulated style, a stage between Geometric and Flowing Decorated tracery.

 

The west front is 100 feet (30 m) high and 147 feet (45 m) wide, and built of Inferior Oolite of the Middle Jurassic period, which came from the Doulting Stone Quarry, about 8 miles (13 km) to the east. According to the architectural historian Alec Clifton-Taylor, it is "one of the great sights of England".

 

West fronts in general take three distinct forms: those that follow the elevation of the nave and aisles, those that have paired towers at the end of each aisle, framing the nave, and those that screen the form of the building. The west front at Wells has the paired-tower form, unusual in that the towers do not indicate the location of the aisles, but extend well beyond them, screening the dimensions and profile of the building.

 

The west front rises in three distinct stages, each clearly defined by a horizontal course. This horizontal emphasis is counteracted by six strongly projecting buttresses defining the cross-sectional divisions of nave, aisles and towers, and are highly decorated, each having canopied niches containing the largest statues on the façade.

 

At the lowest level of the façade is a plain base, contrasting with and stabilising the ornate arcades that rise above it. The base is penetrated by three doors, which are in stark contrast to the often imposing portals of French Gothic cathedrals. The outer two are of domestic proportion and the central door is ornamented only by a central post, quatrefoil and the fine mouldings of the arch.

 

Above the basement rise two storeys, ornamented with quatrefoils and niches originally holding about four hundred statues, with three hundred surviving until the mid-20th century. Since then, some have been restored or replaced, including the ruined figure of Christ in the gable.

 

The third stages of the flanking towers were both built in the Perpendicular style of the late 14th century, to the design of William Wynford; that on the north-west was not begun until about 1425. The design maintains the general proportions, and continues the strong projection of the buttresses.

 

The finished product has been criticised for its lack of pinnacles, and it is probable that the towers were intended to carry spires which were never built. Despite its lack of spires or pinnacles, the architectural historian Banister Fletcher describes it as "the highest development in English Gothic of this type of façade."

 

The sculptures on the west front at Wells include standing figures, seated figures, half-length angels and narratives in high relief. Many of the figures are life-sized or larger. Together they constitute the finest display of medieval carving in England. The figures and many of the architectural details were painted in bright colours, and the colouring scheme has been deduced from flakes of paint still adhering to some surfaces. The sculptures occupy nine architectural zones stretching horizontally across the entire west front and around the sides and the eastern returns of the towers which extend beyond the aisles. The strongly projecting buttresses have tiers of niches which contain many of the largest figures. Other large figures, including that of Christ, occupy the gable. A single figure stands in one of two later niches high on the northern tower.

 

In 1851 the archaeologist Charles Robert Cockerell published his analysis of the iconography, numbering the nine sculptural divisions from the lowest to the highest. He defined the theme as "a calendar for unlearned men" illustrating the doctrines and history of the Christian faith, its introduction to Britain and its protection by princes and bishops. He likens the arrangement and iconography to the Te Deum.

 

According to Cockerell, the side of the façade that is to the south of the central door is the more sacred and the scheme is divided accordingly. The lowest range of niches each contained a standing figure, of which all but four figures on the west front, two on each side, have been destroyed. More have survived on the northern and eastern sides of the north tower. Cockerell speculates that those to the south of the portal represented prophets and patriarchs of the Old Testament while those to the north represented early missionaries to Britain, of which Augustine of Canterbury, St Birinus, and Benedict Biscop are identifiable by their attributes. In the second zone, above each pair of standing figures, is a quatrefoil containing a half-length angel in relief, some of which have survived. Between the gables of the niches are quatrefoils that contain a series of narratives from the Bible, with the Old Testament stories to the south, above the prophets and patriarchs, and those from the New Testament to the north. A horizontal course runs around the west front dividing the architectural storeys at this point.

 

Above the course, zones four and five, as identified by Cockerell, contain figures which represent the Christian Church in Britain, with the spiritual lords such as bishops, abbots, abbesses and saintly founders of monasteries on the south, while kings, queens and princes occupy the north. Many of the figures survive and many have been identified in the light of their various attributes. There is a hierarchy of size, with the more significant figures larger and enthroned in their niches rather than standing. Immediately beneath the upper course are a series of small niches containing dynamic sculptures of the dead coming forth from their tombs on the Day of Judgement. Although naked, some of the dead are defined as royalty by their crowns and others as bishops by their mitres. Some emerge from their graves with joy and hope, and others with despair.

 

The niches in the lowest zone of the gable contain nine angels, of which Cockerell identifies Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel. In the next zone are the taller figures of the twelve apostles, some, such as John, Andrew and Bartholomew, clearly identifiable by the attributes that they carry. The uppermost niches of the gable contained the figure of Christ the Judge at the centre, with the Virgin Mary on his right and John the Baptist on his left. The figures all suffered from iconoclasm. A new statue of Jesus was carved for the central niche, but the two side niches now contain cherubim. Christ and the Virgin Mary are also represented by now headless figures in a Coronation of the Virgin in a niche above the central portal. A damaged figure of the Virgin and Christ Child occupies a quatrefoil in the spandrel of the door.

 

The central tower appears to date from the early 13th century. It was substantially reconstructed in the early 14th century during the remodelling of the east end, necessitating the internal bracing of the piers a decade or so later. In the 14th century the tower was given a timber and lead spire which burnt down in 1439. The exterior was then reworked in the Perpendicular style and given the present parapet and pinnacles. Alec Clifton-Taylor describes it as "outstanding even in Somerset, a county famed for the splendour of its church towers".

 

The north porch is described by art historian Nikolaus Pevsner as "sumptuously decorated", and intended as the main entrance. Externally it is simple and rectangular with plain side walls. The entrance is a steeply arched portal framed by rich mouldings of eight shafts with stiff-leaf capitals each encircled by an annular moulding at middle height. Those on the left are figurative, containing images representing the martyrdom of St Edmund the Martyr. The walls are lined with deep niches framed by narrow shafts with capitals and annulets like those of the portal. The path to the north porch is lined by four sculptures in Purbeck stone, each by Mary Spencer Watson, representing the symbols of the Evangelists.

 

The cloisters were built in the late 13th century and largely rebuilt from 1430 to 1508 and have wide openings divided by mullions and transoms, and tracery in the Perpendicular Gothic style. The vault has lierne ribs that form octagons at the centre of each compartment, the joints of each rib having decorative bosses. The eastern range is of two storeys, of which the upper is the library built in the 15th century.

 

Because Wells Cathedral was secular rather than monastic, cloisters were not a practical necessity. They were omitted from several other secular cathedrals but were built here and at Chichester. Explanations for their construction at these two secular cathedrals range from the processional to the aesthetic. As at Chichester, there is no northern range to the cloisters. In monastic cloisters it was the north range, benefiting most from winter sunlight, that was often used as a scriptorium.

 

In 1969, when a large chunk of stone fell from a statue near the main door, it became apparent that there was an urgent need for restoration of the west front. Detailed studies of the stonework and of conservation practices were undertaken under the cathedral architect, Alban D. R. Caroe and a restoration committee formed. The methods selected were those devised by Eve and Robert Baker. W. A. (Bert) Wheeler, clerk of works to the cathedral 1935–1978, had previously experimented with washing and surface treatment of architectural carvings on the building and his techniques were among those tried on the statues.

 

The conservation was carried out between 1974 and 1986, wherever possible using non-invasive procedures such as washing with water and a solution of lime, filling gaps and damaged surfaces with soft mortar to prevent the ingress of water and stabilising statues that were fracturing through corrosion of metal dowels. The surfaces were finished by painting with a thin coat of mortar and silane to resist further erosion and attack by pollutants. The restoration of the façade revealed much paint adhering to the statues and their niches, indicating that it had once been brightly coloured.

 

The particular character of this Early English interior is dependent on the proportions of the simple lancet arches. It is also dependent on the refinement of the architectural details, in particular the mouldings.

 

The arcade, which takes the same form in the nave, choir and transepts, is distinguished by the richness of both mouldings and carvings. Each pier of the arcade has a surface enrichment of 24 slender shafts in eight groups of three, rising beyond the capitals to form the deeply undulating mouldings of the arches. The capitals themselves are remarkable for the vitality of the stylised foliage, in a style known as "stiff-leaf". The liveliness contrasts with the formality of the moulded shafts and the smooth unbroken areas of ashlar masonry in the spandrels. Each capital is different, and some contain small figures illustrating narratives.

 

The vault of the nave rises steeply in a simple quadripartite form, in harmony with the nave arcade. The eastern end of the choir was extended and the whole upper part elaborated in the second quarter of the 14th century by William Joy. The vault has a multiplicity of ribs in a net-like form, which is very different from that of the nave, and is perhaps a recreation in stone of a local type of compartmented wooden roof of which examples remain from the 15th century, including those at St Cuthbert's Church, Wells. The vaults of the aisles of the choir also have a unique pattern.

 

Until the early 14th century, the interior of the cathedral was in a unified style, but it was to undergo two significant changes, to the tower and to the eastern end. Between 1315 and 1322 the central tower was heightened and topped by a spire, which caused the piers that supported it to show signs of stress. In 1338 the mason William Joy employed an unorthodox solution by inserting low arches topped by inverted arches of similar dimensions, forming scissors-like structures. These arches brace the piers of the crossing on three sides, while the easternmost side is braced by a choir screen. The bracing arches are known as "St Andrew's Cross arches", in a reference to the patron saint of the cathedral. They have been described by Wim Swaan – rightly or wrongly – as "brutally massive" and intrusive in an otherwise restrained interior.

 

Wells Cathedral has a square east end to the choir, as is usual, and like several other cathedrals including Salisbury and Lichfield, has a lower Lady Chapel projecting at the eastern end, begun by Thomas Witney in about 1310, possibly before the chapter house was completed. The Lady Chapel seems to have begun as a free-standing structure in the form of an elongated octagon, but the plan changed and it was linked to the eastern end by extension of the choir and construction of a second transept or retrochoir east of the choir, probably by William Joy.

 

The Lady Chapel has a vault of complex and somewhat irregular pattern, as the chapel is not symmetrical about both axes. The main ribs are intersected by additional non-supporting, lierne ribs, which in this case form a star-shaped pattern at the apex of the vault. It is one of the earliest lierne vaults in England. There are five large windows, of which four are filled with fragments of medieval glass. The tracery of the windows is in the style known as Reticulated Gothic, having a pattern of a single repeated shape, in this case a trefoil, giving a "reticulate" or net-like appearance.

 

The retrochoir extends across the east end of the choir and into the east transepts. At its centre the vault is supported by a remarkable structure of angled piers. Two of these are placed as to complete the octagonal shape of the Lady Chapel, a solution described by Francis Bond as "an intuition of Genius". The piers have attached shafts of marble, and, with the vaults that they support, create a vista of great complexity from every angle. The windows of the retrochoir are in the Reticulated style like those of the Lady Chapel, but are fully Flowing Decorated in that the tracery mouldings form ogival curves.

 

The chapter house was begun in the late 13th century and built in two stages, completed about 1310. It is a two-storeyed structure with the main chamber raised on an undercroft. It is entered from a staircase which divides and turns, one branch leading through the upper storey of Chain Gate to Vicars' Close. The Decorated interior is described by Alec Clifton-Taylor as "architecturally the most beautiful in England". It is octagonal, with its ribbed vault supported on a central column. The column is surrounded by shafts of Purbeck Marble, rising to a single continuous rippling foliate capital of stylised oak leaves and acorns, quite different in character from the Early English stiff-leaf foliage. Above the moulding spring 32 ribs of strong profile, giving an effect generally likened to "a great palm tree". The windows are large with Geometric Decorated tracery that is beginning to show an elongation of form, and ogees in the lesser lights that are characteristic of Flowing Decorated tracery. The tracery lights still contain ancient glass. Beneath the windows are 51 stalls, the canopies of which are enlivened by carvings including many heads carved in a light-hearted manner.

 

Wells Cathedral contains one of the most substantial collections of medieval stained glass in England, despite damage by Parliamentary troops in 1642 and 1643. The oldest surviving glass dates from the late 13th century and is in two windows on the west side of the chapter-house staircase. Two windows in the south choir aisle are from 1310 to 1320.

 

The Lady Chapel has five windows, of which four date from 1325 to 1330 and include images of a local saint, Dunstan. The east window was restored to a semblance of its original appearance by Thomas Willement in 1845. The other windows have complete canopies, but the pictorial sections are fragmented.

 

The east window of the choir is a broad, seven-light window dating from 1340 to 1345. It depicts the Tree of Jesse (the genealogy of Christ) and demonstrates the use of silver staining, a new technique that allowed the artist to paint details on the glass in yellow, as well as black. The combination of yellow and green glass and the application of the bright yellow stain gives the window its popular name, the "Golden Window". It is flanked by two windows each side in the clerestory, with large figures of saints, also dated to 1340–45. In 2010 a major conservation programme was undertaken on the Jesse Tree window.

 

The panels in the chapel of St Katherine are attributed to Arnold of Nijmegen and date from about 1520. They were acquired from the destroyed church of Saint-Jean, Rouen, with the last panel having been purchased in 1953.

 

The large triple lancet to the nave west end was glazed at the expense of Dean Creighton at a cost of £140 in 1664. It was repaired in 1813, and the central light was largely replaced to a design by Archibald Keightley Nicholson between 1925 and 1931. The main north and south transept end windows by James Powell and Sons were erected in the early 20th century.

 

The greater part of the stone carving of Wells Cathedral comprises foliate capitals in the stiff-leaf style. They are found ornamenting the piers of the nave, choir and transepts. Stiff-leaf foliage is highly abstract. Though possibly influenced by carvings of acanthus leaves or vine leaves, it cannot be easily identified with any particular plant. Here the carving of the foliage is varied and vigorous, the springing leaves and deep undercuts casting shadows that contrast with the surface of the piers. In the transepts and towards the crossing in the nave the capitals have many small figurative carvings among the leaves. These include a man with toothache and a series of four scenes depicting the "Wages of Sin" in a narrative of fruit stealers who creep into an orchard and are then beaten by the farmer. Another well-known carving is in the north transept aisle: a foliate corbel, on which climbs a lizard, sometimes identified as a salamander, a symbol of eternal life.

 

Carvings in the Decorated Gothic style may be found in the eastern end of the buildings, where there are many carved bosses. In the chapter house, the carvings of the 51 stalls include numerous small heads of great variety, many of them smiling or laughing. A well-known figure is the corbel of the dragon-slaying monk in the chapter house stair. The large continuous capital that encircles the central pillar of the chapter house is markedly different in style to the stiff-leaf of the Early English period. In contrast to the bold projections and undercutting of the earlier work, it has a rippling form and is clearly identifiable as grapevine.

 

The 15th-century cloisters have many small bosses ornamenting the vault. Two in the west cloister, near the gift shop and café, have been called sheela na gigs, i. e. female figures displaying their genitals and variously judged to depict the sin of lust or stem from ancient fertility cults.

 

Wells Cathedral has one of the finest sets of misericords in Britain. Its clergy has a long tradition of singing or reciting from the Book of Psalms each day, along with the customary daily reading of the Holy Office. In medieval times the clergy assembled in the church eight times daily for the canonical hours. As the greater part of the services was recited while standing, many monastic or collegiate churches fitted stalls whose seats tipped up to provide a ledge for the monk or cleric to lean against. These were "misericords" because their installation was an act of mercy. Misericords typically have a carved figurative bracket beneath the ledge framed by two floral motifs known, in heraldic manner, as "supporters".

 

The misericords date from 1330 to 1340. They may have been carved under the direction of Master Carpenter John Strode, although his name is not recorded before 1341. He was assisted by Bartholomew Quarter, who is documented from 1343. They originally numbered 90, of which 65 have survived. Sixty-one are installed in the choir, three are displayed in the cathedral, and one is held by the Victoria and Albert Museum. New stalls were ordered when the eastern end of the choir was extended in the early 14th century. The canons complained that they had borne the cost of the rebuilding and ordered the prebendary clerics to pay for their own stalls. When the newly refurbished choir opened in 1339 many misericords were left unfinished, including one-fifth of the surviving 65. Many of the clerics had not paid, having been called to contribute a total sum of £200. The misericords survived better than the other sections of the stalls, which during the Protestant Reformation had their canopies chopped off and galleries inserted above them. One misericord, showing a boy pulling a thorn from his foot, dates from the 17th century. In 1848 came a complete rearrangement of the choir furniture, and 61 of the misericords were reused in the restructured stalls.

 

The subject matter of the carvings of the central brackets as misericords varies, but many themes recur in different churches. Typically the themes are less unified or directly related to the Bible and Christian theology than small sculptures seen elsewhere within churches, such as bosses. This applies at Wells, where none of the misericord carvings is directly based on a Bible story. The subjects, chosen either by the woodcarver, or perhaps by the one paying for the stall, have no overriding theme. The sole unifying elements are the roundels on each side of the pictorial subject, which all show elaborately carved foliage, in most cases formal and stylised in the later Decorated manner, but with several examples of naturalistic foliage, including roses and bindweed. Many of the subjects carry traditional interpretations. The image of the "Pelican in her Piety" (believed to feed her young on her own blood) is a recognised symbol for Christ's love for the Church. A cat playing with a mouse may represent the Devil snaring a human soul. Other subjects illustrate popular fables or sayings such as "When the fox preaches, look to your geese". Many depict animals, some of which may symbolise a human vice or virtue, or an aspect of faith.

 

Twenty-seven of the carvings depict animals: rabbits, dogs, a puppy biting a cat, a ewe feeding a lamb, monkeys, lions, bats, and the Early Christian motif of two doves drinking from a ewer. Eighteen have mythological subjects, including mermaids, dragons and wyverns. Five are clearly narrative, such as the Fox and the Geese, and the story of Alexander the Great being raised to Heaven by griffins. There are three heads: a bishop in a mitre, an angel, and a woman wearing a veil over hair arranged in coils over each ear. Eleven carvings show human figures, among which are several of remarkable design, conceived by the artist specifically for their purpose of supporting a shelf. One figure lies beneath the seat, supporting the shelf with a cheek, a hand and a foot. Another sits in a contorted manner supporting the weight on his elbow, while a further figure squats with his knees wide apart and a strained look on his face.

 

Some of the cathedral's fittings and monuments are hundreds of years old. The brass lectern in the Lady Chapel dates from 1661 and has a moulded stand and foliate crest. In the north transept chapel is a 17th-century oak screen with columns, formerly used in cow stalls, with artisan Ionic capitals and cornice, set forward over the chest tomb of John Godelee. There is a bound oak chest from the 14th century, which was used to store the chapter seal and key documents. The bishop's throne dates from 1340, and has a panelled, canted front and stone doorway, and a deep nodding cusped ogee canopy above it, with three-stepped statue niches and pinnacles. The throne was restored by Anthony Salvin around 1850. Opposite the throne is a 19th-century octagonal pulpit on a coved base with panelled sides, and steps up from the north aisle. The round font in the south transept is from the former Saxon cathedral and has an arcade of round-headed arches, on a round plinth. The font cover was made in 1635 and is decorated with the heads of putti. The Chapel of St Martin is a memorial to every Somerset man who fell in World War I.

 

The monuments and tombs include Gisa, bishop; † 1088; William of Bitton, bishop; † 1274; William of March, bishop; † 1302; John Droxford; † 1329; John Godelee; † 1333; John Middleton, died †1350; Ralph of Shrewsbury, died †; John Harewell, bishop; † 1386; William Bykonyll; † c. 1448; John Bernard; † 1459; Thomas Beckington; † died 1464; John Gunthorpe; † 1498; John Still; † 1607; Robert Creighton; † 1672; Richard Kidder, bishop; † 1703; George Hooper, bishop; † 1727 and Arthur Harvey, bishop; † 1894.

 

In the north transept is Wells Cathedral clock, an astronomical clock from about 1325 believed to be by Peter Lightfoot, a monk of Glastonbury. Its mechanism, dated between 1386 and 1392, was replaced in the 19th century and the original moved to the Science Museum in London, where it still operates. It is the second oldest surviving clock in England after the Salisbury Cathedral clock.

 

The clock has its original medieval face. Apart from the time on a 24-hour dial, it shows the motion of the Sun and Moon, the phases of the Moon, and the time since the last new Moon. The astronomical dial presents a geocentric or pre-Copernican view, with the Sun and Moon revolving round a central fixed Earth, like that of the clock at Ottery St Mary. The quarters are chimed by a quarter jack: a small automaton known as Jack Blandifers, who hits two bells with hammers and two with his heels. At the striking of the clock, jousting knights appear above the clock face.

 

On the outer wall of the transept, opposite Vicars' Hall, is a second clock face of the same clock, placed there just over seventy years after the interior clock and driven by the same mechanism. The second clock face has two quarter jacks (which strike on the quarter-hour) in the form of knights in armour.

 

In 2010 the official clock-winder retired and was replaced by an electric mechanism.

 

The first record of an organ at this church dates from 1310. A smaller organ, probably for the Lady Chapel, was installed in 1415. In 1620 an organ built by Thomas Dallam was installed at a cost of £398 1s 5d.

 

The 1620 organ was destroyed by parliamentary soldiers in 1643. An organ built in 1662 was enlarged in 1786 and again in 1855. In 1909–1910 an organ was built by Harrison & Harrison of Durham, with the best parts of the old organ retained. It has been serviced by the same company ever since.

 

Since November 1996 the cathedral has also had a portable chamber organ, by the Scottish makers, Lammermuir. It is used regularly to accompany performances of Tudor and baroque music.

 

The first recorded organist of Wells was Walter Bagele (or Vageler) in 1416. The post of organist or assistant organist has been held by more than 60 people since. Peter Stanley Lyons was Master of Choristers at Wells Cathedral, and Director of Music at Wells Cathedral School in 1954–1960. The choral conductor James William Webb-Jones, father of Lyons's wife Bridget (whom he married in the cathedral), was Headmaster of Wells Cathedral School in 1955–1960. Malcolm Archer was the appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers from 1996 to 2004. Matthew Owens was the appointed organist from 2005 to 2019.

 

There has been a choir of boy choristers at Wells since 909. Currently there are 18 boy choristers and a similar number of girl choristers, aged from eight to fourteen. The Vicars Choral was formed in the 12th century and the sung liturgy provided by a traditional cathedral choir of men and boys until the formation of an additional choir of girls in 1994. The boys and girls sing alternately with the Vicars Choral and are educated at Wells Cathedral School.

 

The Vicars Choral currently number twelve men, of whom three are choral scholars. Since 1348 the College of Vicars had its own accommodation in a quadrangle converted in the early 15th century to form Vicar's Close. The Vicars Choral generally perform with the choristers, except on Wednesdays, when they sing alone, allowing them to present a different repertoire, in particular plainsong.

 

In December 2010 Wells Cathedral Choir was rated by Gramophone magazine as "the highest ranking choir with children in the world". It continues to provide music for the liturgy at Sunday and weekday services. The choir has made many recordings and toured frequently, including performances in Beijing and Hong Kong in 2012. Its repertoire ranges from the choral music of the Renaissance to recently commissioned works.

 

The Wells Cathedral Chamber Choir is a mixed adult choir of 25 members, formed in 1986 to sing at the midnight service on Christmas Eve, and invited to sing at several other special services. It now sings for about 30 services a year, when the Cathedral Choir is in recess or on tour, and spends one week a year singing as the "choir in residence" at another cathedral. Although primarily liturgical, the choir's repertoire includes other forms of music, as well as performances at engagements such as weddings and funerals.

 

The cathedral is home to Wells Cathedral Oratorio Society (WCOS), founded in 1896. With around 160 voices, the society gives three concerts a year under the direction of Matthew Owens, Organist and Master of the Choristers at the cathedral. Concerts are normally in early November, December (an annual performance of Handel's Messiah) and late March. It performs with a number of specialist orchestras including: Music for Awhile, Chameleon Arts and La Folia.

 

The bells at Wells Cathedral are the heaviest ring of ten bells in the world, the tenor bell (the 10th and largest), known as Harewell, weighing 56.25 long hundredweight (2,858 kg). They are hung for full-circle ringing in the English style of change ringing. These bells are now hung in the south-west tower, although some were originally hung in the central tower.

 

The library above the eastern cloister was built between 1430 and 1508. Its collection is in three parts: early documents housed in the Muniment Room; the collection predating 1800 housed in the Chained Library; and the post-1800 collection housed in the Reading Room. The chapter's earlier collection was destroyed during the Reformation, so that the present library consists chiefly of early printed books, rather than medieval manuscripts. The earlier books in the Chained Library number 2,800 volumes and give an indication of the variety of interests of the members of the cathedral chapter from the Reformation until 1800. The focus of the collection is predominantly theology, but there are volumes on science, medicine, exploration, and languages. Books of particular interest include Pliny's Natural History printed in 1472, an Atlas of the World by Abraham Ortelius, printed in 1606, and a set of the works by Aristotle that once belonged to Erasmus. The library is open to the public at appointed times in the summer and presents a small exhibition of documents and books.

 

Three early registers of the Dean and Chapter edited by W. H. B. Bird for the Historical Manuscripts Commissioners – Liber Albus I (White Book; R I), Liber Albus II (R III) and Liber Ruber (Red Book; R II, section i) – were published in 1907. They contain with some repetition, a cartulary of possessions of the cathedral, with grants of land back to the 8th century, well before hereditary surnames developed in England, and acts of the Dean and Chapter and surveys of their estates, mostly in Somerset.

 

Adjacent to the cathedral is a large lawned area, Cathedral Green, with three ancient gateways: Brown's Gatehouse, Penniless Porch and Chain Gate. On the green is the 12th-century Old Deanery, largely rebuilt in the late 15th century by Dean Gunthorpe and remodelled by Dean Bathurst in the late 17th century. No longer the dean's residence, it is used as diocesan offices.

 

To the south of the cathedral is the moated Bishop's Palace, begun about 1210 by Jocelin of Wells but dating mostly from the 1230s. In the 15th century Thomas Beckington added a north wing, now the bishop's residence. It was restored and extended by Benjamin Ferrey between 1846 and 1854.

 

To the north of the cathedral and connected to it by the Chain Gate is Vicars' Close, a street planned in the 14th century and claimed to be the oldest purely residential street in Europe, with all but one of its original buildings intact. Buildings in the close include the Vicars Hall and gateway at the south end, and the Vicars Chapel and Library at the north end.

 

The Liberty of St Andrew was the historic liberty and parish that encompassed the cathedral and surrounding lands closely associated with it.

 

The English painter J. M. W. Turner visited Wells in 1795, making sketches of the precinct and a water colour of the west front, now in the Tate gallery. Other artists whose paintings of the cathedral are in national collections are Albert Goodwin, John Syer and Ken Howard.

 

The cathedral served to inspire Ken Follett's 1989 novel The Pillars of the Earth and with a modified central tower, featured as the fictional Kingsbridge Cathedral at the end of the 2010 television adaptation of that novel. The interior of the cathedral was used for a 2007 Doctor Who episode, "The Lazarus Experiment", while the exterior shots were filmed at Southwark Cathedral.

 

An account of the damage to the cathedral during the Monmouth Rebellion is included in Arthur Conan Doyle's 1889 historical novel Micah Clarke.

 

The cathedral provided scenes for the 2019–2020 television series The Spanish Princess.

Aussi appelé le "Monastère de la lance" car il a possédé pendant 5 siècles la relique de la lance qui a blessé le Christ sur la croix.

Le monastère a été fondé au IV ème siècle par St Grégoire l'Illuminateur mais l'ensemble du temple a été achevé au XIII ème siècle. Il a été un centre culturel important avec une école, un scriptorium...Il est en partie troglodytique.

Depuis 2000 le monastère est sur la Liste du Patrimoine de l'UNESCO.

L'Eglise Principale (Kathoghike) date de 1215. Son clocher est en cours de restauration.

Au second niveau des tombes de princes avec de nombreuses croix taillées dans les parois et des colonnes taillées dans la roche.

Manuscript title: Biblia latina (Vulgata), Part 1: Genesis to Psalms

 

Manuscript summary: Latin Bible, designed as a pandect (i.e. in one volume), following the recension of Alcuin of York. Several copies of these Alcuin Bibles, manufactured in the scriptorium of St. Martin of Tours, have survived; with their finely graded hierarchy of scripts and harmonious proportions, they are considered monuments of Carolingian book production.

 

Origin: Tours, Abbey St. Martin (France)

 

Period: 9th century

 

Image source: Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 3: Biblia latina (Vulgata), Part 1: Genesis to Psalms

(www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/bbb/0003)

Museum of the Book - The history of letters, the book, letter print and book culture of the Czech lands in the European context.

 

"The development of the book culture of the Czech lands is demonstrated by the book exhibits – from medieval manuscripts through to old prints to contemporary graphic and book illustration, including samples of underground and exile literature borrowed from the library resources of Libri prohibiti. The exhibition includes the Baroque library of the Capuchin Monastery in Roudnice nad Labem, the library of Mladá Vožice Chateau and the classicist interior and personal library of the Czech historian, Gelasius Dobner, in the original bookcases. The exhibition concludes with the collection of Cubist furniture designed according to Josef Gočár’s plans and the carved furniture of the remarkable artist, Josef Váchal, together with a small exhibition of his graphic works. The reconstructions of the medieval Scriptorium, a printing room of the 16th century and samples of printing machines complete the overall picture."

En partie détruite, l'abbaye conserve actuellement les restes d'une aile romane édifiée au 11ème siècle, qui compte parmi les plus an-ciens bâtiments conventuels existant en France. Depuis 1930, elle héberge le musée archéologique de Dijon.

 

Niveau 0: la salle capitulaire et le scriptorium de style roman (11èS) qui, à l'origine, se trouvaient de plein-pied, le cloître ayant été re-haussé de 2m dans la 2de moitié du 17ème siècle;

Niveau 1: le dortoir des moines de style gothique (13èS), devenu sal-le du chapitre et réfectoire (toujours au 17èS) et dont les étroites fe-nêtres ont alors été remplacées par de larges baies cintrées;

Niveau 2: des salles du plus récentes (17èS), résultant des travaux de surélévation engagés dès 1652 par les moines mauristes pour l'ajout de nouvelles cellules.

Museum of the Book - The history of letters, the book, letter print and book culture of the Czech lands in the European context.

 

"The development of the book culture of the Czech lands is demonstrated by the book exhibits – from medieval manuscripts through to old prints to contemporary graphic and book illustration, including samples of underground and exile literature borrowed from the library resources of Libri prohibiti. The exhibition includes the Baroque library of the Capuchin Monastery in Roudnice nad Labem, the library of Mladá Vožice Chateau and the classicist interior and personal library of the Czech historian, Gelasius Dobner, in the original bookcases. The exhibition concludes with the collection of Cubist furniture designed according to Josef Gočár’s plans and the carved furniture of the remarkable artist, Josef Váchal, together with a small exhibition of his graphic works. The reconstructions of the medieval Scriptorium, a printing room of the 16th century and samples of printing machines complete the overall picture."

Reichenau Island is an island in Lake Constance. It lies west of the city of Konstanz. Since 1838 the island is connected to the mainland by a causeway.

 

The island was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000 because of the important Abbey of Reichenau founded in 724 by Saint Pirmin, with patronage that included Charles Martel, Count Berthold of the Ahalolfinger and the Alemannian Duke Santfrid (aka Hnabi). It gained influence in the Carolingian dynasty, by educating the clerks who staffed Imperial and ducal chanceries. An important book collection was built up here.

The abbey housed a school, and a scriptorium and artists' workshop, that has a claim to have been the largest and artistically most influential centre for producing illuminated manuscripts in Europe during the late 10th and early 11th centuries, often known as the Reichenau School.

 

The Abbey reached its apex under Abbot Berno of Reichenau (1008–48). During his time, important scholars lived and worked in Reichenau. In the second half of the 11th century, the importance started to wane owing to rivalry with the nearby St. Gall. In 1540, the Bishop of Constance, an old rival of the Reichenau abbots, became lord of Reichenau, and, under the control of the succeeding bishops, the abbey's significance dwindled.

 

The church of St. Georg was part of the abbey. It was erected end of the 9th century. The Reichenau abbot Hatto III. received relics from Pope Formosus in Rome in 896 that included a piece of the skull of the martyr Georg. He brought the relic to Reichenau. The original church building comprised today's nave and the crypt. For this time, the nave was a very spacious building, the size of which was chosen for the expected veneration of Saint Georg. It got enlarged and altered a couple of times later.

 

St. Georg is known for its wonderful murals, created end of the 9th or 10th century.

 

The original murals had been overpainted in the 14th century. In the second half of the 18th century, the church got a whitewash - and the murals were forgotten. They got rediscovered in 1879 and subsequently uncovered.

 

Not all murals are that old and depict biblical scenes. This one was done in the 14th century and criticizes the chattering of "dumb wibun" - foolish women.

 

A devil wrote onto a cow-hide, that is stretched by four devils

 

Ich wil hie schribvn

von diesen tvmben wibvn

was hie wirt plapla gvsprochvn

vppigs in der wochvn

was wirt allvs wol gvdaht

so es wirt für den richtvr braht

 

This is Middle High German languages.

It roughly translates to

 

I want to write here

about these foolish women

what is spoken here blabla

over the week

that will be well remembered

when it is in front of the judge

  

Fundado em 1131 no exterior das muralhas de Coimbra, o Mosteiro de Santa Cruz foi a mais importante casa monástica nos primeiros tempos da monarquia portuguesa. Na posse da Ordem de Santo Agostinho, o Mosteiro somou benefícios papais e doações régias, o que permitiu a acumulação de um património considerável, ao mesmo tempo que consolidava a sua posição no plano político-institucional e cultural do país. A sua escola foi fundamental nestes tempos medievais e ponto de passagem obrigatória para as élites do poder e da intelectualidade. O seu scriptorium foi o responsável pela máquina de propaganda do rei D. Afonso Henriques, não estranhando, assim, que este tenha escolhido sepultar-se precisamente em Santa Cruz de Coimbra.

Do primitivo mosteiro românico pouco resta. A sua construção desenrolou-se ao longo de praticamente um século, de 1131 a 1228, tendo-se dado a sagração do altar em 1150. Sabemos que tinha uma só nave, contrafortada por duas incipientes naves laterais, estas organizadas em capelas abertas para a nave central, e uma alta torre na fachada, características das construções românicas agostinhas e, muito provavelmente, fruto de um arquitecto francês, da área borgonhesa, não sendo de excluir que possa ter sido Roberto, mestre das Sés de Lisboa e de Coimbra. No nartex formado pelo espaço térreo da torre ficaram os túmulos dos dois primeiros reis portugueses, sendo Santa Cruz de Coimbra o primeiro panteão régio nacional.

Como grande instituição monacal, o Mosteiro de Santa Cruz foi objecto de numerosas campanhas reformuladoras ao longo dos séculos. A principal, e que conferiu ao edifício o aspecto actual, data da primeira metade do século XVI, altura em que D. Manuel assumiu a tutela do cenóbio. Para tal recorreu a alguns dos melhores artistas que então trabalhavam no reino, Diogo de Castilho, Machim e João de Ruão, Cristóvão de Figueiredo e Vasco Fernandes, Boytac, Marcos Pires e Chanterenne.

A cenográfica fachada principal foi construída em duas campanhas sucessivas. Os robustos torreões, com contrafortes em quilha, datam dos primeiros anos do século, mais propriamente entre 1507 e 1513. O portal, elemento emblemático de toda a campanha quinhentista, foi concebido por Diogo de Castilho, mas a sua realização deve-se a Nicolau de Chanterenne, entre 1522 e 1526, escultor que realizou também as três esculturas de vulto que encimam a entrada.

Também os túmulos de D. Afonso Henriques e seu sucessor, D. Sancho I, foram reformulados e transferidos para a capela-mor em 1530, onde ainda hoje se encontram, inseridos numa obra escultórica da autoria de Nicolau de Chanterenne. O interior da igreja foi também profundamente alterado, tendo os trabalhos sido conduzidos primeiro por Boytac e depois por Diogo de Castilho. Ao primeiro deve-se o abobadamento da nave, e ao segundo o coro-alto, erguido c. 1530, com a sua abóbada estrelada.

A extensão das obras manuelino-renascentistas de Santa Cruz encontra-se ainda testemunhada em outras áreas. O claustro data de inícios do século e as obras principais sido dirigidas por Marcos Pires. Ainda no interior da igreja, o cadeiral manuelino do coro-alto é uma obra de referência e revela as tendências hispano-flamengas do seu construtor, Machim. Também o púlpito renascentista merece um especial destaque, pela carga mitológica da sua iconografia, já claramente renascentista.

A Sacristia maneirista, da autoria de Pedro Nunes Tinoco, foi construída entre 1622 e 1624, e nela se conservam algumas das pinturas mais antigas do mosteiro, como o Pentecostes de Vasco Fernandes. As obras barrocas não alteraram significativamente o conjunto e adaptaram-se ao pré-existente, como o provam os revestimentos azulejares da primeira metade do século XVIII, o órgão do espanhol Gomes Herrera, ou ainda o retábulo-mor, de talha imitando mármore.

A igreja foi reconhecida como Panteão Nacional pela Assembleia da República, em diploma publicado no DR, I Série, 22-08-2003, Lei n.º 35/2003

PAF

www.patrimoniocultural.gov.pt/pt/patrimonio/patrimonio-im...

Romantic Christmas Market at St. Emmeram Palace, Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany

 

Some background information:

 

St. Emmeram Abbey was founded around 739 as a Benedictine monastery in the town of Regensburg. For more than 200 years the bishops of Regensburg were also the abbots of the monastery. In 975, Saint Wolfgang, then bishop of Regensburg, voluntarily gave up the position of abbot and severed the connection, making the abbots of St. Emmeram's independent of the bishopric. It was also him who ordered the construction of a library at St Emmeram.

 

Over time, the library became well supplied with works by early Christian writers such as Saint Augustine, as well as by ancient writers such as Virgil and Seneca. In addition to works that had an overt religious or inspirational purpose, the library held a large collection of manuscripts used in the monastery school, focusing on subjects such as logic, arithmetic, rhetoric, grammar, and even astronomy and music. By the early eleventh century, the library at St. Emmeram had acquired a reputation for its great collection and the scriptorium of St. Emmeram's also had become a significant centre of book production and illumination, the home of works such as the sacramentary of Emperor Henry II (produced between 1002 and 1014) and the Uta Codex (shortly after 1002).

 

In 1295, the counter-king Adolf of Nassau made St. Emmeram an imperial abbey and therefore an independent sovereign power subject directly to the emperor. After a decline in its significance during the 16th century the abbey enjoyed a resurgence in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1731, the abbots were raised to the status of Princes of the Empire. Between 1731 and 1733, the abbey church was magnificently refurbished in the Baroque style by the Asam brothers.

 

In 1803, St. Emmeram, along with the Imperial City of Regensburg, the Bishopric of Regensburg and the two other Imperial Abbeys Niedermuenster and Obermuenster, lost its previous politically independent status to the newly formed Principality of Regensburg. But after the Treaty of Paris in 1810, the entire Principality of Regensburg was transferred to Bavaria.

 

In 1812 the monastic buildings were granted to the Princes of Thurn und Taxis, who had St. Emmeram's Abbey converted as their new residence. The family of Thurn und Taxis is a noble house that belongs to Germany’s high aristocracy. In 1490, they founded the pan-European postal service and occupied the postal monopoly until the foundation of the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806. By occupying the postal monopoly, the family became one of the wealthiest and most powerful in Germany. The noble house of Thurn und Taxis rendered great service to the postal system by speeding it up significantly: Before their time as postal monopolists, single horsemen and their horses had to deliver the mail all the way from the addressor to the addressee. But it was the idea of the house of Thurn und Taxis to establish coaching inns throughout Europe, where both exhausted horsemen and horses could be changed.

 

St. Emmeram Palace itself is larger than Buckingham Palace. During Advent season its magnificent park, imposing architecture and picturesque courtyard create a unique romantic atmosphere, which attracts thousands of tourists and local people each year and allows them to be taken back into the times of knights, princesses and horses and carriages. The castles’s courtyard is gently lit by torches, lanterns and candles. At its centre of this magical make believe village a mighty, beautifully decorated Christmas tree is positioned. Princess Gloria of Thurn und Taxis and her family like to mix with the guests at this event, which is held on their own doorstep.

 

The palace as well as the princely treasury and the royal stables are open to the public. Guided tours through the palatial rooms can be booked.

 

Regensburg with its population of about 140.000 inhabitants is located at the confluence of the rivers Danube and Regen at the northernmost bend in the Danube. It is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate. Since 2006, Regensburg's large medieval center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

A Merry Christmas 2018 and a Happy New Year 2019 to all of you! Have a great festive season together with your families and friends!

El monestir de Santa Maria de Poblet és fundat el 1150, i en acabar el segle XII, tenim construïts l'església, el refetor dels monjos, una part del claustre, i la infermeria amb el claustre i la capella de Sant Esteve. Durant el segle XIII s'acaba, en la seva pràctica totalitat, el conjunt monumental, amb totes les estances que els monjos necessiten per a la seva vida regular: la sala capitular, el dormitori, el claustre, la cuina, l'scriptorium i el refetor dels conversos; l'hospital per als pobres i pelegrins, amb la capella de Santa Caterina. Durant els segles posteriors s'hi afegiran altres elements, que ja no podem considerar indispensables per a la vida dels monjos: el cimbori i les muralles, amb el panteó i les altres construccions reials, la capella de Sant Jordi, al llarg dels segles XIV i XV; el campanar i el retaule, del segle XVI; la sagristia nova i les cases noves, del segle XVIII, entre altres construccions, funcionals o decoratives, que expliquen la vitalitat del cenobi i responen a diverses vicissituds històriques, i també a les circumstàncies econòmiques de cada època.

 

Obra senyera de l'escultura catalana del Renaixement, el retaule va ser esculpit en alabastre per Damià Forment entre 1527 i 1529. Presenta una estructura a la romana. El basament està format per dues filades de plafons, amb dues portes als extrems. Els plafons inferiors estan ornamentats amb grotescs i els del damunt presenten cinc escenes de la Passió, força mutilades en les destrosses del segle XIX. El retaule pròpiament dit està dividit horitzontalment en tres cossos, més un coronament on hi ha el Calvari. El primer cos està presidit per la imatge, restaurada, de la Mare de Déu i sis talles de sants de factura moderna. La segona franja mostra escenes de la vida de Maria, i la tercera és centrada per una imatge de Crist beneint, flanquejada per les figures aparellades dels dotze apòstols. El conjunt es caracteritza per tenir tota la superfície profusament ornamentada amb tot el catàleg del repertori romà, a base de grotescs, fullatges, fruites i angelots. Al final de l'obra, els monjos no es van sentir satisfets perquè s'havien incomplert alguns punts del contracte, com l'ús d'un alabastre local, d'inferior qualitat del pactat.

 

Amb l'exclaustració, el 1835, el posterior saqueig va deixar el retaule molt malmès i algunes imatges van ser destruïdes o robades. L'any 1940 s'inicià la restauració.

 

Per saber-ne més, visiteu el lloc web del monestir de Poblet.

 

Pàgina a la UNESCO World Heritage List.

 

A Google Maps.

El Scriptorium de Tábara

 

600 monjes de ambos sexos componían este monasterio de San Salvador haya por el siglo X

 

En uno de esos manuscritos salidos de nuestro cenobio, que lleva incluso su nombre: Beato de Tábara, se representó la propia torre del monasterio y su scriptorium anejo, la más antigua y precisa imagen que se conserva de un scriptorium de la Alta Edad Media europea. Allí dos monjes se afanan en la fatigosa tarea de la escritura, precisamente los autores que concluyeron el códice: el escriba Senior y el miniaturista Emeterius que en su inexpresiva y convencional figura consagra el primer autorretrato del arte hispánico; el pintor en plena actividad creadora.

 

The monasteries of San Millán de Suso (6th century) and San Millán de Yuso (11th century) are two monasteries situated in the village of San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja, Spain. They have been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since December 1997.

The two monasteries' names Suso and Yuso mean the "upper" and the "lower" in archaic Castilian, respectively. Suso is the older building and is believed to be built on the site of a hermitage where Saint Emilian (Spanish: San Millán) lived. Perhaps Suso's major claim to fame is as the place where phrases in the Spanish and Basque languages were written for the first time. UNESCO acknowledges the property "as the birthplace of the modern written and spoken Spanish language". The phrases in Spanish and Basque are glosses on a Latin text and are known as the Glosas Emilianenses. There is some debate as to whether the Spanish words are written in an early form of Castilian or in a related dialect. In either case, San Millán's importance as a cradle of the Spanish language is reinforced by the proximity of the village of Berceo which is associated with Gonzalo de Berceo, the first Spanish poet known by name.

There is a continuous history of Christianity at San Millán since the time of the saint. The scriptorium produced the second phase of the San Millán Beatus and remained active during the period of Muslim rule; and over the centuries, the religious community has overcome various vicissitudes which affected the monasteries (for example being sacked by the Black Prince). However the type of monastic life evolved: the original monks living at Suso were hermits, but Yuso, the refoundation of the monastery on a lower site, developed as a Benedictine community. As the UNESCO evaluation noted, San Millán shows the transformation from an eremetic to a cenobitic community in material terms.

Suso monastery has been uninhabited since the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal in the nineteenth century. Yuso monastery was also abandoned for some years in the nineteenth century, but was reoccupied. It houses an Augustinian community, but part of the monastery has been converted into a hotel. Today San Millán attracts pilgrims on the Way of St James (even though it lies somewhat off the line of the official route between Nájera and Burgos).

 

Monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla - Wikipedia

  

El Real Monasterio de San Millán de Yuso (yuso significaba 'abajo' en castellano antiguo) está situado en la villa de San Millán de la Cogolla, Comunidad Autónoma de La Rioja (España), en la margen izquierda del río Cárdenas, en pleno valle de San Millán. Forma parte del conjunto monumental de dos monasterios, junto con el más antiguo Monasterio de San Millán de Suso («de arriba»).

Este monasterio fue mandado construir en el año 1053 por el rey García Sánchez III de Navarra «el de Nájera». La historia de su fundación va unida a una leyenda basada en un milagro de san Millán (o Emiliano), un joven pastor que se hace ermitaño. Cuando en 574 muere Millán, a la edad de 101 años, sus discípulos lo entierran en su cueva, y alrededor de ella se va formando el primer monasterio, el de San Millán de Suso. San Braulio, cincuenta años después de muerto san Millán, escribe la vida de este.

El rey navarro García III era muy devoto de San Millán. Como acababa de fundar el gran monasterio de Santa María la Real de Nájera en esta ciudad que era corte del reino, quiso llevarse allí los restos mortales del santo, que estaban enterrados en el monasterio de San Millán de Suso. El 29 de mayo de 1053 colocaron los restos del Santo en una carreta tirada por bueyes y así emprendieron el viaje, con gran descontento de los monjes que allí quedaban desolados por la pérdida de su patrono. Cuando llegaron al llano, cerca del río, los bueyes se detuvieron y ya no quisieron volver a andar; no hubo forma de obligarlos. El rey y toda la comitiva comprendieron que aquello era un milagro, que San Millán estaba imponiendo su voluntad de no pasar de allí y ser enterrado de nuevo en aquellos lugares. Fue entonces cuando el rey mandó construir el reciente monasterio, al que se llamó Yuso (abajo), en contraposición con el de arriba (Suso).

Hasta al menos el año 1100, coexistieron los dos monasterios, el de arriba, Suso, y el de abajo, Yuso. El primero permanece fiel a la tradición: regla mozárabe y carácter dúplice de doble comunidad masculina y femenina. El segundo, reformado con la regla benedictina. A partir del siglo XII solo hay una comunidad de monjes, la benedictina, con una casa principal, la de Yuso (abajo). Los siglos X y XI son los de mayor esplendor en lo espiritual, religioso, artístico y cultural.

En 1809 los benedictinos son expulsados por primera vez cumpliendo el decreto de José Bonaparte. Vuelven en 1813. Son expulsados de nuevo durante el periodo constitucional del reinado de Fernando VII, entre diciembre de 1820 y julio de 1823. La hacienda real vendió entonces la botica en subasta pública. La tercera y última expulsión de la comunidad benedictina será debida a la desamortización eclesiástica de Mendizábal. Yuso permanece abandonado durante treinta y un años, desde noviembre de 1835. Entre 1866 y 1868 se establece una casa de misioneros franciscanos de Bermeo y, tras diez años de abandono, en 1878 fue ocupado por los frailes de la Orden de Agustinos Recoletos como casa destinada a la formación de los misioneros destinados a Filipinas. Las primeras obras de rehabilitación que se efectuaron por parte de los agustinos recoletos las realiza Fray Toribio Minguella.

El monasterio fue construido en estilo románico, como correspondía a la época. Es demolido en su totalidad y reconstruido en el siglo XVI, en estilo herreriano, de los siglos XVII y XVIII.

 

Monasterio de San Millán de Yuso - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

 

Yuso – Monasterio de San Millán (monasteriodesanmillan.com)

 

San Millán Yuso and Suso Monasteries - UNESCO World Heritage Centre

  

El monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña es una abadía trapense situada en el término municipal de Castrillo del Val, a 10 km del centro de Burgos (España). Actualmente, está considerado como BIC (Bien de Interés Cultural). Fue declarado Monumento histórico-artístico perteneciente al Tesoro Artístico Nacional mediante decreto de 3 de junio de 1931. En 2015, en la aprobación por la Unesco de la ampliación del Camino de Santiago en España a «Caminos de Santiago de Compostela: Camino francés y Caminos del Norte de España», España envió como documentación un «Inventario Retrospectivo - Elementos Asociados» (Retrospective Inventory - Associated Components) en el que en el n.º 979 figura el monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña.

El monasterio se habrá fundado antes de 902 cuando el conde de Lantarón y de Cerezo, Gonzalo Téllez y su esposa Flámula realizaron la primera donación documentada al cenobio el 24 de septiembre de ese año de una serna en Pedernales y unas eras de sal.

En los siglos IX o X sus monjes fueron martirizados por los musulmanes, canonizados en 1603 y conocidos como los «Mártires de Cardeña». El monasterio gozaba de gran popularidad con gran afluencia de devotos, entre los que se encontraban el rey Felipe III de España y su esposa la reina Doña Margarita de Austria. Una de sus preciadas reliquias, la cabeza de su abad San Esteban, fue trasladada al Monasterio de Celanova; también se encuentran dos urnas en el Monasterio de la Huelgas y otra en la Catedral de Burgos.

Cada año, el 6 de agosto, aniversario del martirio, la tierra del claustro donde fueron sepultados los mártires, se teñía de un color rojizo que parecía sangre. El milagroso prodigio, ampliamente testificado, se repite hasta finales del siglo XIV. El año 1674 ya una vez levantado el nuevo claustro de estilo herreriano se reprodujo el hecho, personándose el arzobispo Enrique de Peralta, que vivamente impresionado encargó un estudio, interviniendo médicos y teólogos. Recogió el líquido, coaguló al ser puesto en agua hirviendo.

El 1 de febrero de 1967 un violento incendio destruyó las tres cuartas partes del monasterio, habitado desde 1942 por la abadía trapense de Nuestra Señora de los Mártires.

La prosperidad del monasterio en la época altomedieval se refleja en la calidad de su scriptorium, en el que el monje Endura realizó obras extraordinarias.

El Beato de San Pedro de Cardeña fue realizado entre los años 1175 y 1180, cuenta con 290 páginas y 51 miniaturas. 127 folios se encuentran en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional de Madrid, dos en la Biblioteca Francisco de Zabálburu, también en Madrid (donde también se halla el Cartulario de San Pedro de Cardeña), uno en el Museo Diocesano de Gerona y otros quince en el Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York.

Desde la sala capitular, que data del siglo XIII, se divisa a través de grandes cristaleras el claustro románico, que data del siglo XII. Compuesto por arquería de medio punto sobre columnas únicas que descansan sobre fustes robustos y coronadas de capiteles que imitan el estilo corintio. Los arcos recuerdan en su decoración a los de la mezquita de Córdoba por su policromía, alternando los colores blanco y rojo. En la pared izquierda se encuentran unas antiquísimas piedras cuya inscripción recuerda el trágico suceso.

Para construir esta iglesia de tres naves se destruyó la románica, aunque afortunadamente se salvó la torre, legítimo recuerdo cidiano. Reedificada en el siglo XVI, consta de tres naves, con una capilla aneja, denominada capilla de El Cid, ya que allí fue enterrado, y permaneció antes de su traslado a la catedral de Burgos. La fachada de la iglesia es de estilo barroco.

En el lateral derecho de la iglesia gótica, se abre una capilla barroca que data de 1753 a la que fueron trasladados los restos del Cid Campeador y su esposa Jimena. En las paredes de esta estancia llamada «Capilla de los Héroes», hay 29 nichos con inscripciones de nombres de reyes y familiares del Cid.

Según el Cantar de mio Cid y las tradiciones posteriores, antes de marchar al destierro, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar dejó en San Pedro de Cardeña, al amparo del abad Sancho (que la crítica ha identificado con Sisebuto de Cardeña atribuyendo una confusión al autor del Cantar), a su esposa Doña Jimena y a sus hijas, aunque este hecho no está atestiguado por pruebas históricas. En el primer destierro de 1081, las propiedades de Rodrigo Díaz no le fueron enajenadas, y la familia del Cid pudo seguir residiendo en sus casas. En el segundo, de 1089, la familia fue presa por mandato de Alfonso VI en un castillo, quizá Gormaz, para reunirse con el Campeador poco después.

El enterramiento del Cid en San Pedro de Cardeña no fue debido a la voluntad personal de Rodrigo Díaz. A su muerte en 1099 fue inhumado en la catedral de Valencia, por lo que solo en 1102, tras tener que abandonar Jimena Díaz la plaza levantina, fueron trasladados sus restos al cenobio cardeniense. Allí permaneció durante algunos años su cuerpo embalsamado y sentado en un escaño del presbiterio. Desde ese momento se generaron allí una serie de narraciones de carácter hagiográfico que hacia 1280 constituyeron un corpus conocido como Leyenda de Cardeña cuyo propósito fue vincular al Cid con el monasterio de Cardeña, con el que en vida había tenido escasa relación. Estos materiales legendarios se incorporaron a la Versión sanchina de la Estoria de España o Crónica de veinte reyes, que puede datarse entre 1282 y 1284. En el siglo XIV el monasterio caradignense estimuló el culto a las reliquias cidianas, en cuyo contexto se redactó el Epitafio épico del Cid y, posiblemente, se encargara o elaborara, a partir de un ejemplar tomado en préstamo, el códice con la copia de 1325–1330 en el que se conserva el Cantar de mio Cid. En el claustro nuevo una lápida recuerda el lugar que ocupaba su sepulcro.

En la explanada situada frente a la fachada principal, en la que aparece una imagen ecuestre del Cid Campeador, hay una estatua del Sagrado Corazón, y a la izquierda un monolito con leyenda alusiva al caballo Babieca. Coincide con el lugar donde una creencia tradicional considera que fue sepultado el animal.

En el monasterio se conserva la bodega románica más antigua de España en uso comercial, donde se elabora el tinto Valdevegón con uva de La Rioja. Y también un licor llamado Tizona del Cid, hecho con unas 30 hierbas que maceran en barricas de roble. En 2016 se convierte en el primer monasterio español en producir cerveza trapense, la cerveza Cardeña.

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monasterio_de_San_Pedro_de_Cardeña

 

monasteriosanpedrodecardena.blogspot.com

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyenda_de_Cardeña

 

en.caminodelcid.org/places/monastery-of-san-pedro-de-card...

 

Cerveza Cardeña - Monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña (valdevegon.com)

 

The monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña is a Trappist abbey located in the municipality of Castrillo del Val, 10 km from the center of Burgos (Spain). Currently, it is considered as BIC (Asset of Cultural Interest). It was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument belonging to the National Artistic Treasure by decree of June 3, 1931. In 2015, in the approval by Unesco of the extension of the Camino de Santiago in Spain to «Roads of Santiago de Compostela: French Way and Roads Northern Spain ", Spain sent as documentation a" Retrospective Inventory - Associated Components "in which the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña is listed in No. 979.

The monastery will have been founded before 902 when the count of Lantarón and Cerezo, Gonzalo Téllez and his wife, Flámula, made the first documented donation to the monastery on September 24 of that year of a serna in Pedernales and some salt eras.

In the 9th or 10th centuries its monks were martyred by the Muslims, canonized in 1603 and known as the "Martyrs of Cardeña." The monastery enjoyed great popularity with a large influx of devotees, among whom were King Felipe III of Spain and his wife, Queen Doña Margarita of Austria. One of his precious relics, the head of his abbot San Esteban, was transferred to the Monastery of Celanova; There are also two urns in the Monastery of La Huelgas and another in the Cathedral of Burgos.

Every year, on August 6, the anniversary of the martyrdom, the ground of the cloister where the martyrs were buried was stained a reddish color that looked like blood. The miraculous prodigy, widely witnessed, is repeated until the end of the fourteenth century. In 1674, once the new Herrerian-style cloister was erected, the event was reproduced, with the appearance of Archbishop Enrique de Peralta, who, greatly impressed, commissioned a study, involving doctors and theologians. He collected the liquid, it coagulated when put in boiling water.

On February 1, 1967, a violent fire destroyed three-quarters of the monastery, inhabited since 1942 by the Trappist Abbey of Our Lady of the Martyrs.

The prosperity of the monastery in the high medieval era is reflected in the quality of its scriptorium, in which the monk Endura carried out extraordinary works.

The Beatus of San Pedro de Cardeña was made between the years 1175 and 1180, it has 290 pages and 51 miniatures. 127 pages are in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid, two in the Francisco de Zabálburu Library, also in Madrid (where the Cartulary of San Pedro de Cardeña is also found), one in the Diocesan Museum of Gerona and another fifteen in the Museum Metropolitan of Art of New York.

From the chapter house, which dates from the 13th century, you can see through large windows the Romanesque cloister, which dates from the 12th century. Composed of semicircular arches on unique columns that rest on robust shafts and crowned with capitals that imitate the Corinthian style. The arches in their decoration are reminiscent of those of the Cordoba mosque due to their polychrome, alternating white and red colors. On the left wall are some ancient stones whose inscription recalls the tragic event.

To build this church with three naves, the Romanesque was destroyed, although fortunately the tower, a legitimate Cidian memory, was saved. Rebuilt in the 16th century, it consists of three naves, with an attached chapel, called the El Cid Chapel, since he was buried there, and remained before his transfer to the Burgos Cathedral. The facade of the church is in the Baroque style.

On the right side of the Gothic church, there is a baroque chapel dating from 1753 to which the remains of the Cid Campeador and his wife Jimena were transferred. On the walls of this room called "Capilla de los Héroes", there are 29 niches with inscriptions of the names of kings and relatives of the Cid.

According to the Cantar de mio Cid and later traditions, before going into exile, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar left in San Pedro de Cardeña, under the protection of Abbot Sancho (who the critic has identified with Sisebuto de Cardeña attributing a confusion to the author of the Cantar ), his wife Doña Jimena and their daughters, although this fact is not attested by historical evidence. In the first exile in 1081, Rodrigo Díaz's properties were not alienated from him, and the Cid family was able to continue residing in his houses. In the second, in 1089, the family was imprisoned by order of Alfonso VI in a castle, perhaps Gormaz, to meet with the Campeador shortly after.

The burial of the Cid in San Pedro de Cardeña was not due to the personal will of Rodrigo Díaz. Upon his death in 1099 he was buried in the cathedral of Valencia, so that only in 1102, after Jimena Díaz had to leave the Levantine square, were his remains transferred to the Cardenian monastery. His body remained there for some years, embalmed and seated on a bench in the presbytery. From that moment on, a series of hagiographic narratives were generated there, which around 1280 constituted a corpus known as the Leyenda de Cardeña whose purpose was to link the Cid with the Cardeña monastery, with which in life he had had little relationship. These legendary materials were incorporated into the Sanchina Version of the Estoria de España or Chronicle of Twenty Kings, which can be dated between 1282 and 1284. In the 14th century, the Caradignense monastery stimulated the cult of Cidian relics, in which context the Epitaph was written. epic of the Cid and, possibly, the codex with the copy of 1325–1330 in which the Cantar de mio Cid is preserved, was commissioned or elaborated from a borrowed copy. In the new cloister a tombstone recalls the place occupied by his tomb.

On the esplanade in front of the main façade, in which an equestrian image of the Cid Campeador appears, there is a statue of the Sacred Heart, and on the left a monolith with a legend alluding to the Babieca horse. It coincides with the place where a traditional belief considers that the animal was buried.

The monastery houses the oldest Romanesque winery in Spain in commercial use, where the red Valdevegón is made with grapes from La Rioja. And also a liqueur called Tizona del Cid, made with about 30 herbs that are macerated in oak barrels. In 2016 it became the first Spanish monastery to produce Trappist beer, Cardeña beer.

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Díaz_de_Vivar

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cid

 

El monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña es una abadía trapense situada en el término municipal de Castrillo del Val, a 10 km del centro de Burgos (España). Actualmente, está considerado como BIC (Bien de Interés Cultural). Fue declarado Monumento histórico-artístico perteneciente al Tesoro Artístico Nacional mediante decreto de 3 de junio de 1931. En 2015, en la aprobación por la Unesco de la ampliación del Camino de Santiago en España a «Caminos de Santiago de Compostela: Camino francés y Caminos del Norte de España», España envió como documentación un «Inventario Retrospectivo - Elementos Asociados» (Retrospective Inventory - Associated Components) en el que en el n.º 979 figura el monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña.

El monasterio se habrá fundado antes de 902 cuando el conde de Lantarón y de Cerezo, Gonzalo Téllez y su esposa Flámula realizaron la primera donación documentada al cenobio el 24 de septiembre de ese año de una serna en Pedernales y unas eras de sal.

En los siglos IX o X sus monjes fueron martirizados por los musulmanes, canonizados en 1603 y conocidos como los «Mártires de Cardeña». El monasterio gozaba de gran popularidad con gran afluencia de devotos, entre los que se encontraban el rey Felipe III de España y su esposa la reina Doña Margarita de Austria. Una de sus preciadas reliquias, la cabeza de su abad San Esteban, fue trasladada al Monasterio de Celanova; también se encuentran dos urnas en el Monasterio de la Huelgas y otra en la Catedral de Burgos.

Cada año, el 6 de agosto, aniversario del martirio, la tierra del claustro donde fueron sepultados los mártires, se teñía de un color rojizo que parecía sangre. El milagroso prodigio, ampliamente testificado, se repite hasta finales del siglo XIV. El año 1674 ya una vez levantado el nuevo claustro de estilo herreriano se reprodujo el hecho, personándose el arzobispo Enrique de Peralta, que vivamente impresionado encargó un estudio, interviniendo médicos y teólogos. Recogió el líquido, coaguló al ser puesto en agua hirviendo.

El 1 de febrero de 1967 un violento incendio destruyó las tres cuartas partes del monasterio, habitado desde 1942 por la abadía trapense de Nuestra Señora de los Mártires.

La prosperidad del monasterio en la época altomedieval se refleja en la calidad de su scriptorium, en el que el monje Endura realizó obras extraordinarias.

El Beato de San Pedro de Cardeña fue realizado entre los años 1175 y 1180, cuenta con 290 páginas y 51 miniaturas. 127 folios se encuentran en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional de Madrid, dos en la Biblioteca Francisco de Zabálburu, también en Madrid (donde también se halla el Cartulario de San Pedro de Cardeña), uno en el Museo Diocesano de Gerona y otros quince en el Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York.

Desde la sala capitular, que data del siglo XIII, se divisa a través de grandes cristaleras el claustro románico, que data del siglo XII. Compuesto por arquería de medio punto sobre columnas únicas que descansan sobre fustes robustos y coronadas de capiteles que imitan el estilo corintio. Los arcos recuerdan en su decoración a los de la mezquita de Córdoba por su policromía, alternando los colores blanco y rojo. En la pared izquierda se encuentran unas antiquísimas piedras cuya inscripción recuerda el trágico suceso.

Para construir esta iglesia de tres naves se destruyó la románica, aunque afortunadamente se salvó la torre, legítimo recuerdo cidiano. Reedificada en el siglo XVI, consta de tres naves, con una capilla aneja, denominada capilla de El Cid, ya que allí fue enterrado, y permaneció antes de su traslado a la catedral de Burgos. La fachada de la iglesia es de estilo barroco.

En el lateral derecho de la iglesia gótica, se abre una capilla barroca que data de 1753 a la que fueron trasladados los restos del Cid Campeador y su esposa Jimena. En las paredes de esta estancia llamada «Capilla de los Héroes», hay 29 nichos con inscripciones de nombres de reyes y familiares del Cid.

Según el Cantar de mio Cid y las tradiciones posteriores, antes de marchar al destierro, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar dejó en San Pedro de Cardeña, al amparo del abad Sancho (que la crítica ha identificado con Sisebuto de Cardeña atribuyendo una confusión al autor del Cantar), a su esposa Doña Jimena y a sus hijas, aunque este hecho no está atestiguado por pruebas históricas. En el primer destierro de 1081, las propiedades de Rodrigo Díaz no le fueron enajenadas, y la familia del Cid pudo seguir residiendo en sus casas. En el segundo, de 1089, la familia fue presa por mandato de Alfonso VI en un castillo, quizá Gormaz, para reunirse con el Campeador poco después.

El enterramiento del Cid en San Pedro de Cardeña no fue debido a la voluntad personal de Rodrigo Díaz. A su muerte en 1099 fue inhumado en la catedral de Valencia, por lo que solo en 1102, tras tener que abandonar Jimena Díaz la plaza levantina, fueron trasladados sus restos al cenobio cardeniense. Allí permaneció durante algunos años su cuerpo embalsamado y sentado en un escaño del presbiterio. Desde ese momento se generaron allí una serie de narraciones de carácter hagiográfico que hacia 1280 constituyeron un corpus conocido como Leyenda de Cardeña cuyo propósito fue vincular al Cid con el monasterio de Cardeña, con el que en vida había tenido escasa relación. Estos materiales legendarios se incorporaron a la Versión sanchina de la Estoria de España o Crónica de veinte reyes, que puede datarse entre 1282 y 1284. En el siglo XIV el monasterio caradignense estimuló el culto a las reliquias cidianas, en cuyo contexto se redactó el Epitafio épico del Cid y, posiblemente, se encargara o elaborara, a partir de un ejemplar tomado en préstamo, el códice con la copia de 1325–1330 en el que se conserva el Cantar de mio Cid. En el claustro nuevo una lápida recuerda el lugar que ocupaba su sepulcro.

En la explanada situada frente a la fachada principal, en la que aparece una imagen ecuestre del Cid Campeador, hay una estatua del Sagrado Corazón, y a la izquierda un monolito con leyenda alusiva al caballo Babieca. Coincide con el lugar donde una creencia tradicional considera que fue sepultado el animal.

En el monasterio se conserva la bodega románica más antigua de España en uso comercial, donde se elabora el tinto Valdevegón con uva de La Rioja. Y también un licor llamado Tizona del Cid, hecho con unas 30 hierbas que maceran en barricas de roble. En 2016 se convierte en el primer monasterio español en producir cerveza trapense, la cerveza Cardeña.

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monasterio_de_San_Pedro_de_Cardeña

 

monasteriosanpedrodecardena.blogspot.com

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyenda_de_Cardeña

 

en.caminodelcid.org/places/monastery-of-san-pedro-de-card...

 

Cerveza Cardeña - Monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña (valdevegon.com)

 

The monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña is a Trappist abbey located in the municipality of Castrillo del Val, 10 km from the center of Burgos (Spain). Currently, it is considered as BIC (Asset of Cultural Interest). It was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument belonging to the National Artistic Treasure by decree of June 3, 1931. In 2015, in the approval by Unesco of the extension of the Camino de Santiago in Spain to «Roads of Santiago de Compostela: French Way and Roads Northern Spain ", Spain sent as documentation a" Retrospective Inventory - Associated Components "in which the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña is listed in No. 979.

The monastery will have been founded before 902 when the count of Lantarón and Cerezo, Gonzalo Téllez and his wife, Flámula, made the first documented donation to the monastery on September 24 of that year of a serna in Pedernales and some salt eras.

In the 9th or 10th centuries its monks were martyred by the Muslims, canonized in 1603 and known as the "Martyrs of Cardeña." The monastery enjoyed great popularity with a large influx of devotees, among whom were King Felipe III of Spain and his wife, Queen Doña Margarita of Austria. One of his precious relics, the head of his abbot San Esteban, was transferred to the Monastery of Celanova; There are also two urns in the Monastery of La Huelgas and another in the Cathedral of Burgos.

Every year, on August 6, the anniversary of the martyrdom, the ground of the cloister where the martyrs were buried was stained a reddish color that looked like blood. The miraculous prodigy, widely witnessed, is repeated until the end of the fourteenth century. In 1674, once the new Herrerian-style cloister was erected, the event was reproduced, with the appearance of Archbishop Enrique de Peralta, who, greatly impressed, commissioned a study, involving doctors and theologians. He collected the liquid, it coagulated when put in boiling water.

On February 1, 1967, a violent fire destroyed three-quarters of the monastery, inhabited since 1942 by the Trappist Abbey of Our Lady of the Martyrs.

The prosperity of the monastery in the high medieval era is reflected in the quality of its scriptorium, in which the monk Endura carried out extraordinary works.

The Beatus of San Pedro de Cardeña was made between the years 1175 and 1180, it has 290 pages and 51 miniatures. 127 pages are in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid, two in the Francisco de Zabálburu Library, also in Madrid (where the Cartulary of San Pedro de Cardeña is also found), one in the Diocesan Museum of Gerona and another fifteen in the Museum Metropolitan of Art of New York.

From the chapter house, which dates from the 13th century, you can see through large windows the Romanesque cloister, which dates from the 12th century. Composed of semicircular arches on unique columns that rest on robust shafts and crowned with capitals that imitate the Corinthian style. The arches in their decoration are reminiscent of those of the Cordoba mosque due to their polychrome, alternating white and red colors. On the left wall are some ancient stones whose inscription recalls the tragic event.

To build this church with three naves, the Romanesque was destroyed, although fortunately the tower, a legitimate Cidian memory, was saved. Rebuilt in the 16th century, it consists of three naves, with an attached chapel, called the El Cid Chapel, since he was buried there, and remained before his transfer to the Burgos Cathedral. The facade of the church is in the Baroque style.

On the right side of the Gothic church, there is a baroque chapel dating from 1753 to which the remains of the Cid Campeador and his wife Jimena were transferred. On the walls of this room called "Capilla de los Héroes", there are 29 niches with inscriptions of the names of kings and relatives of the Cid.

According to the Cantar de mio Cid and later traditions, before going into exile, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar left in San Pedro de Cardeña, under the protection of Abbot Sancho (who the critic has identified with Sisebuto de Cardeña attributing a confusion to the author of the Cantar ), his wife Doña Jimena and their daughters, although this fact is not attested by historical evidence. In the first exile in 1081, Rodrigo Díaz's properties were not alienated from him, and the Cid family was able to continue residing in his houses. In the second, in 1089, the family was imprisoned by order of Alfonso VI in a castle, perhaps Gormaz, to meet with the Campeador shortly after.

The burial of the Cid in San Pedro de Cardeña was not due to the personal will of Rodrigo Díaz. Upon his death in 1099 he was buried in the cathedral of Valencia, so that only in 1102, after Jimena Díaz had to leave the Levantine square, were his remains transferred to the Cardenian monastery. His body remained there for some years, embalmed and seated on a bench in the presbytery. From that moment on, a series of hagiographic narratives were generated there, which around 1280 constituted a corpus known as the Leyenda de Cardeña whose purpose was to link the Cid with the Cardeña monastery, with which in life he had had little relationship. These legendary materials were incorporated into the Sanchina Version of the Estoria de España or Chronicle of Twenty Kings, which can be dated between 1282 and 1284. In the 14th century, the Caradignense monastery stimulated the cult of Cidian relics, in which context the Epitaph was written. epic of the Cid and, possibly, the codex with the copy of 1325–1330 in which the Cantar de mio Cid is preserved, was commissioned or elaborated from a borrowed copy. In the new cloister a tombstone recalls the place occupied by his tomb.

On the esplanade in front of the main façade, in which an equestrian image of the Cid Campeador appears, there is a statue of the Sacred Heart, and on the left a monolith with a legend alluding to the Babieca horse. It coincides with the place where a traditional belief considers that the animal was buried.

The monastery houses the oldest Romanesque winery in Spain in commercial use, where the red Valdevegón is made with grapes from La Rioja. And also a liqueur called Tizona del Cid, made with about 30 herbs that are macerated in oak barrels. In 2016 it became the first Spanish monastery to produce Trappist beer, Cardeña beer.

 

Please, take a look in large size if you like ...

 

Melk Abbey or Stift Melk is an Austrian Benedictine abbey, and one of the world's most famous monastic sites. It is located above the town of Melk on a rocky outcrop overlooking the river Danube in Lower Austria, adjoining the Wachau valley.

 

The abbey was founded in 1089 when Leopold II, Margrave of Austria gave one of his castles to Benedictine monks from Lambach Abbey. A school was founded in the 12th century, and the monastic library soon became renowned for its extensive manuscript collection. The monastery's scriptorium was also a major site for the production of manuscripts. In the 15th century the abbey became the centre of the Melk Reform movement which reinvigorated the monastic life of Austria and Southern Germany.

 

Today's impressive Baroque abbey was built between 1702 and 1736 to designs by Jakob Prandtauer. Particularly noteworthy is the abbey church with frescos by Johann Michael Rottmayr and the impressive library with countless medieval manuscripts, including a famed collection of musical manuscripts and frescos by Paul Troger.

 

Due to its fame and academic stature, Melk managed to escape dissolution under Emperor Joseph II when many other Austrian abbeys were seized and dissolved between 1780 and 1790. The abbey managed to survive other threats to its existence during the Napoleonic Wars, and also in the period following the Nazi Anschluss that took control of Austria in 1938, when the school and a large part of the abbey were confiscated by the state.

 

The school was returned to the abbey after the Second World War and now caters for nearly 900 pupils of both sexes.

 

Since 1625 the abbey has been a member of the Austrian Congregation, now within the Benedictine Confederation.

 

In his well-known novel The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco named one of the protagonists "Adson von Melk" as a tribute to the abbey and its famous library.

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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For other Armenian quarters, see List of Armenian ethnic enclaves.

 

The Armenian Quarter (Arabic: حارة الأرمن‎, Harat al-Arman; Hebrew: הרובע הארמני‎, Ha-Rova ha-Armeni; Armenian: Հայոց թաղ, Hayots t'agh)[1][2][a] is one of the four quarters of the walled Old City of Jerusalem. Located in the southwestern corner of the Old City, it can be accessed through the Zion Gate and Jaffa Gate. It occupies an area of 0.126 km² (126 dunam), which is 14% of the Old City's total. In 2007, it had a population of 2,424 (6.55% of Old City's total). In both criteria, it is comparable to the Jewish Quarter. The Armenian Quarter is separated from the Christian Quarter by David Street (Suq el-Bazaar) and from the Jewish Quarter by Habad Street (Suq el-Husur).

 

The Armenian presence in Jerusalem dates back to the 4th century AD, when Armenia adopted Christianity as a national religion and Armenian monks settled in Jerusalem. Hence, it is considered the oldest living diaspora community outside the Armenian homeland. Gradually, the quarter developed around the St. James Monastery—which dominates the quarter—and took its modern shape by the 19th century. The monastery houses the Armenian Apostolic Church's Jerusalem Patriarchate, which was established as a diocese in the 7th century AD. The patriarchate is the de facto administrator of the quarter and acts as a "mini-welfare state" for the Armenian residents. The Armenian community has been in decline since the mid-20th century, and is in immediate danger of disappearing, according to Bert Vaux.

 

Though formally separate from Greek Orthodox and Latin (Catholic) Christians, the Armenians consider their quarter to be part of the Christian Quarter. The three Christian patriarchates of Jerusalem and the government of Armenia have publicly expressed their opposition to any political division of the two quarters. The central reasons for the existence of a separate Armenian Quarter is the miaphysitism and distinct language and culture of the Armenians, who, unlike the majority of Christians in Jerusalem (also in Israel and Palestine), are neither Arab nor Palestinian.[b] However, for all intents and purposes, the Armenians living in the Armenian Quarter are considered Palestinians by Israel and the United Nations (UN). They have faced many of the same restrictions on their lives as have the Palestinians.

  

Contents

1Location, borders and surface

2History

2.1Origins

2.2Byzantine, Arab, and Mamluk periods

2.3Ottoman period

2.4World War I, British, and Jordanian periods

2.5Israeli period

3Demographics

3.1Decline of Armenian population

4Landmarks and institutions

4.1Armenian

4.2Other (non-Armenian)

5Political status and views

5.1Armenian views

5.2U.S. Old City division proposal

5.3Palestinian views

5.4Israeli and Jewish views

5.5Christian views

6See also

7References

8Bibliography

8.1Books & book chapters

8.2Journal articles

8.3Other

9External links

Location, borders and surface

The Armenian Quarter is located in the southwestern corner of Jerusalem's Old City.[5] The quarter can be accessed through the Zion Gate and Jaffa Gate.[6] According to a 2007 study published by the International Peace and Cooperation Center, the quarter occupies an area of 0.126 km² (126 dunam), which is 14% of the Old City's total.[7] The Armenian Quarter is formally separated from the Christian Quarter by David Street (Suq el-Bazaar) and by Habad Street (Suq el-Husur) from the Jewish Quarter.[8]

 

History

Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate Rd. signs in Hebrew (top) , Arabic (middle), English (bottom) and classical Armenian (bottom photo)

  

Origins

In the early 4th century[c] Armenia, under king Tiridates III, became the first country to adopt Christianity as a state religion. A large number of Armenian monks are recorded to have settled in Jerusalem as early as the 4th century,[12][13] after the uncovering of Christian holy places in the city.[14] However, the first written records are from the 5th century.[15] Jerusalem is thus considered the oldest living diaspora community outside the Armenian homeland.[16] Philip Marsden wrote that the survival of Armenians in Jerusalem–"most intense of all cities"—proves their extraordinary resilience.[17] Armenian churches were constructed during that period, including the St. James Monastery.[18] The latter was last expanded in the mid-12th century.[19] An Armenian scriptorium was in operation by the mid-5th century.[20] A secular community composed of merchants and artisans was established in the 6th century in the Zion Quarter, where an Armenian street existed (Ruda Armeniorum).[13][21]

 

Byzantine, Arab, and Mamluk periods

In the First Council of Dvin (506), the Armenian Church broke off from the rest of Christianity by rejecting the dual nature of Christ, which was agreed upon in the Council of Chalcedon of 451. Thus, the Armenians found themselves in direct confrontation with the Byzantine Empire. Emperor Justinian I persecuted the Monophysite Armenians, forcing them to leave Jerusalem.[20]

 

A 7th-century Armenian chronicler mentioned the existence of seventy Armenian monasteries in Palestine, some of which have been revealed in excavations.[12] The Byzantines ceded Jerusalem to the Rashidun Caliphate after a siege in 637. Until this point, Jerusalem had a single Christian bishop. In 638 AD,[20] Armenians established their own archbishop, Abraham I.[22] He was officially recognized by Rashidun Caliph Umar.[23] The foundation of the Armenian migration to Jerusalem thus solidified.[15] In the 12th century, around one thousand Armenians moved to Jerusalem with the Crusaders, presumably mainly from the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.[15]

  

The entrance to St. James monastery

In 1311, during Mamluk rule, Archbishop Sarkis (1281–1313) assumed the title of patriarch according to a decree by Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad.[21] In the 1340s, the Armenians were permitted to build a wall around their quarter. This signified that the Mamluk rulers felt that the quarter did not pose a threat. Destroying city walls and fortifications had been a staple of Mamluk governance in order to prevent the Crusaders from returning and reestablishing their rule. The Mamluk government also engraved the following declaration in Arabic on the western entrance to the quarter:

 

The order of our master Sultan Jaqmaq [has been issued] which stipulates that the taxes levied [ahdaiha] recently by the town governor (?) regarding the payment by the Armenian enclosure [dayr alarmani] be cancelled, ... and it has been requested that this cancellation be recorded in the Honored Books in the year 854 of the Hijra (1451 C.E.). Anyone who renews the payment or again takes any tax of extortion is damned, son of the damned, and the curse of Allah will be upon him.[24]

Jerusalemite historian Mujir al-Din provided a detailed description of pre-Ottoman Jerusalem in 1495 in which he mentioned Dir el-Arman (Monastery of the Armenians) or Kanisat Mar Ya'qub (St. James Cathedral).[25]

 

Ottoman period

 

An Armenian priest in Jerusalem c. 1900 pictured smoking a hookah with the Dormition Abbey in the background

During Ottoman rule, Jerusalem developed into a cosmopolitan city. There was religious tolerance and an Ottoman administration existed to sort out religious differences between the rival Christian churches and Muslims. Israeli historians Kark and Oren-Nordheim wrote in 2001: "The Armenian Quarter, although Christian, represented a distinct ethnic group with its particular language and culture, intent on retaining separate identity and unity, minimizing the contacts with Arabs and the Ottoman authorities for fear of persecution."[26] However, the Armenian community in Jerusalem was Arabic-speaking (in addition to Armenian or European languages) and self-identified with Palestinian society.[27]

 

In 1538, the current walls of Jerusalem were completed on the orders of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. These walls, along with the internal walls built by the Armenians, determined the outline of the quarter. In the 1562–63 record, only 189 Armenians were counted, whereas 640 were counted by the Ottomans in 1690, an increase of 239%.[28] According to the chronicler Simeon Lehatsi only some twelve Armenian families lived in Jerusalem in 1615–16.[13] The significant increase in the population in 1690 is attributed to urbanization experienced by the Armenians and other Christians. Thus Armenians came to make up 22.9% of Jerusalem's Christians by 1690, becoming the second largest Christian community.[28]

 

In the 19th century, most of the Armenian and Christian quarters had "European-style gable roofs" as opposed to the domes preferred in the Muslim and Jewish quarters.[29] In 1833 the Armenians established the city's first printing press.[19][30][31][32] A seminary was opened in 1857.[20] In 1855 the first photographic workshop in Jerusalem was founded in the Armenian Quarter.[19] Schools for boys (1840) and girls (1862) were united in 1869 under the name Holy Translators' School[20] and became the first coeducational school in Jerusalem.[4]

  

An 1883 map of the Old City, showing the four quarters

In 1883, 102 Armenian families (8%) constituted the third largest Christian community in the Old City after the Greek Orthodox and Catholic (Latin) communities.[33] Besides these residents, in the same year, 46 Armenian priests and monks and 55 servicemen lived within the St. James Monastery.[34] According to the 1905 Ottoman census in the Old City, the Armenian Quarter had a population of 382, of which Armenians (121) comprised less than one-third (31.7%). Jews (127) made up 33.2%, other Christians (94) 24.6% and Muslims (40) 10.5%.[35] The Jews, who numbered a little more than the Armenians, inhabited the eastern part of the Armenian Quarter, which in the second half of the nineteenth century, became the western part of the Jewish Quarter.[36]

 

World War I, British, and Jordanian periods

Prior to World War I, there were some 2,000–3,000 Armenians in Palestine, mostly in Jerusalem, which was captured by the British in 1917. From 1915 and onward, thousands of Armenian Genocide survivors from Cilicia (Adana Vilayet) found refuge, and settled in the quarter, increasing its population. [37][38] In 1925, around 15,000 Armenians are believed to have lived in all of Palestine, with the majority in Jerusalem.[39] During the British Mandate period, the number of Armenians is estimated to have reached up to 20,000.[39][31] However, the 1931 British census showed only 3,524 Armenians in all of Palestine.[39]

 

In 1947, around 1,500 Armenians from Palestine repatriated to Soviet Armenia as part of the Soviet government's efforts to boost Armenia's population by a large-scale repatriation of ethnic Armenians, mostly from the Middle East. This marked the beginning of the long-term decline of the Armenian community of Jerusalem.[40] During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Armenian Quarter was damaged by bombs.[5] It housed many Armenians from around Palestine. An Armenian civil guard, armed with what Der Matossian describes as "makeshift weapons", was formed to defend the quarter. Over 40 Armenians died during the war.[41]

 

Israeli period

Jerusalem's Old City came under Israeli control in the aftermath of the Six-Day War in 1967. However, the Armenian patriarchate is the de facto administrator of the quarter and acts as a "mini-welfare state" for the Armenian residents.[4] The Arab-Israeli conflict significantly impacted the quarter's politically uninvolved Armenian population. A 1992 article published by the Catholic Near East Welfare Association stated that "Armenians in Jerusalem try to maintain good relations with Arabs and Israelis, but they do not deny that their community has been affected by tensions in the city."[19]

 

Issues

A major obstacle for the Armenians residing in the Armenian Quarter is their Jordanian citizenship[42] (from before 1967),[4] because of which the Israeli government considers them "permanent residents"—the same status as Palestinians.[43] The Jerusalem Post wrote in 2005 that the Israeli bureaucracy "considers Jerusalem Armenians to be Palestinians, which means endless delays in getting documents, and hassles at the airport."[4] A map published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in November 2015 indicated the Armenian Quarter in the color reserved for Palestinian communities.[44] According to Armenian researcher Tamar Boyadjian, because Armenians are considered Palestinians for all legal purposes they have difficulty obtaining travel and marriage documents.[42] Graham Usher, a Palestine-based foreign correspondent of several Western newspapers, wrote in 2000 in a publication of the Beirut-based Institute for Palestine Studies that the Armenians "were burdened with the status of being Palestinian 'residents' but ethnically Armenian. And indeed their lives, properties and heritage have been bound by the same Israeli constraints as their Palestinian compatriots."[45] The Economist also wrote in 2000 that Armenians have faced restrictions on their lives similar to those imposed on the Palestinians, such as prevention of construction of new buildings in the Armenian Quarter.[43] The limited space in the overpopulated district makes housing expensive and according to Boyadjian, "Most Armenians, given their current income, simply cannot afford to maintain their primary residence there."[42]

 

Post-1967 Jewish settlement

 

Map of the southern part of the Old City showing the four quarters and the area within the Armenian Quarter expropriated (in dark blue) for the reconstruction of an extended Jewish Quarter in 1968 (according to the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs).[46]

During the Jordanian rule of the eastern Jerusalem (1948–67), no Jews were allowed to live in the Old City. Since the start of Israeli occupation of the Old City in 1967, the Jewish Quarter has expanded by some 40% and by 2000, 71 (12%) or 81 (14%) of the 581 properties in the Armenian Quarter were owned by Jews.[43][45] The Armenian community is concerned that the Jewish Quarter "will expand as the number of Jews in the Old City continues to grow while the Armenian population withers."[47] The location of the Armenian Quarter athwart the main access roads between the Israeli-controlled West Jerusalem and the holy sites within the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall has made Armenian properties a prime real estate in Israeli eyes.[45] According to Reuters, the Armenian Patriarchate "share[s] a view held by the mostly Muslim Palestinians—that Israel's designation of the whole city as capital of the Jewish state means its control of residence and building permits is being used to press Arabs and other non-Jews to give up and leave."[48] Israeli sovereignty over the Armenian Quarter would be, according to Usher, the "worst future imaginable" for the Armenian community.[45] Members of Jerusalem's Armenian community have voiced concerns about the Israeli government's policies and commitment to preserving their community's presence in the Old City.[49]

 

Demographics

Writing in 2000, Graham Usher estimated that the Armenian Quarter had a population of 1,200.[45] According to a 2007 study, the quarter housed 2,424 people (6.55% of Old City's total).[7]

 

Decline of Armenian population

 

Armenian scouts during Easter parade

Armenians began emigrating from Jerusalem's Old City in the mid-20th century,[45] being in the middle of the conflict between Arabs and Jews,[43][45] mainly since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and what Daphne Tsimhoni characterized as "their feeling of loneliness."[50] The lack of a longstanding political solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict for Jerusalem has been cited as the main cause of the decrease in the number of Armenians in the Old City, which fell by almost half from 1,598 in 1967 to 790 in 2006. Meanwhile, the Muslim population increased from 16,681 to 27,500 and the Jewish population from 0 (after their expulsion under Jordanian occupation) to 3,089.[51] The exodus of the Armenians intestified following the breakout of the First Intifada in 1987.[42] According to Tsolag Momjian, the honorary Armenian consul in Jerusalem, as of 2009 around 600 Armenians lived in the Armenian Quarter (out of the total 2,000 Armenians in all of Jerusalem).[52] Two articles, published in 2010 and 2011, put the number of Armenians in the Armenian Quarter as low as 500.[47][49]

  

A street in the quarter

Despite the drastic decline in the number of Armenians, Israeli scholar Daphne Tsimhoni wrote in 1983 that "the existence of their church headquarters in Jerusalem provides for the continued presence of some clergy and a certain number of laity."[53] On the contrary, American linguist Bert Vaux argued in 2002 that the Armenian community of Jerusalem is "in immediate danger of disappearing—the wealthy move into other parts of Jerusalem, and the closed environment in the Armenian Quarter spurs many to move to Beirut or the West."[54] Armenian author Matthew Karanian wrote about the Armenian community of Jerusalem in 2010 as follows:[49]

 

The survival of the community is today in peril. The population is dwindling. ... If the Old City were divided up today, the Armenians might barely command one street. They certainly would not lay claim to an entire Quarter, as they have for centuries.

Subgroups

Haytayan identifies three groups subgroups of Armenians living within the Armenian Quarter The first group includes monks and clergymen (around 50),[55] who live within the monastery. Lay people are divided into two groups: those living within the monastery compound, and those living in the Armenian Quarter, but outside of the monastery walls. Around two-thirds of lay persons reside within the monastery walls. Locally known as vanketsi (վանքեցի, lit. "those from the convent"), they number up to 700 people.[55] They do not pay rent (or pay symbolic amount) to the patriarchate.[6][16] Those living outside of the monastery walls are called kaghakatsi (քաղաքացի, lit. "city-dwellers"). Their ancestry goes back centuries. They only pay municipal taxes.[16][6]

 

Bert Vaux identifies two subgroups of Armenians:

 

k‘ałak‘ac‘is ("citizens" or "city dwellers") are the indigenous Armenian-speaking inhabitants of the quarter. They live outside the monastery walls, and attend the Church of the Holy Archangels (Hreshtakapetats).

k‘ałt‘agans ("[im]migrants") are ancestors of Armenians from various parts of the Ottoman Empire who moved to Jerusalem following the 1915 genocide. They attend services at the cathedral of St. James. According to Vaux, "In the period immediately after their arrival they were referred to by the k‘ałak‘ac‘is as zuwar, the Arabic word for ‘visitors’. The k‘ałt‘agans in turn are reported to have labelled the k‘ałak‘ac‘is as p‘is arab ‘dirty Arab’. The two groups each remained wary of the other for some time, and in fact did not intermarry on a significant scale until after World War II. Relations subsequently improved."[56]

Language

The Armenian dialect spoken in Jerusalem is highly distinctive, because it was geographically relatively isolated from the rest of the Armenian-speaking world, and Arabic has a significant influence on it. Those Armenians whose ancestors came from Turkey following the 1915 genocide speak Turkish-influenced Western Armenian.[57]

 

Landmarks and institutions

 

A detailed map of the monastery compound.[58]

Armenian

Religious

Cathedral of St. James (Սուրբ Յակոբեանց վանք, Surb Hakobeants vank) is thought to have been founded in the 4th century, but the current structure dates to the 12th century.[59]

St. Toros Church (Սուրբ Թորոս եկեղեցի, Surb T'oros yekeğetsi). According to local tradition, the church was built between 1270 and 1289 by Hethum I, the Armenian King of Cilicia in memory of his son, Toros, who was killed in a battle. The church was renovated to its current state in 1727.[60]

Church of the Holy Archangels (Սրբոց Հրեշտակապետաց եկեղեցի, Srbots Hreštakapetats yekeğetsi; Deir Al Zeitoun) was founded in the 12th century probably on the ruins of an ancient church in the 4th century.[59]

Educational

The Alex and Marie Manoogian Seminary (Ալեքս եւ Մարի Մանուկեան Ժառանգաւորաց Վարժարան) was founded in 1975 through financing of Armenian-American businessman and philanthropist Alex Manoogian.[61][62]

Sts. Holy Translators' School (Սրբոց թարգմանչաց վարժարան, Srbots t'argmančats varžaran) contains a kindergarten, elementary and secondary schools[63] with a total of around 150 students (as of 2000).[16]

Cultural

The St. James Press (տպարան Սրբոց Յակոբեանց, tparan Srbots Hakobeants) was founded in 1833.[64]

Helen and Edward Mardigian Museum of Armenian Art and Culture was opened in 1969. Its exhibits consist of historical and religious artifacts, such as rugs, coins, copper cauldrons, ceramic tiles, a map, a replica of Johannes Gutenberg's printing press, etc.[65]

Calouste Gulbenkian Library (Կիւլպէնկեան Մատենադարան), founded in 1925 through financing of British-Armenian businessman and philanthropist Calouste Gulbenkian, for whom it is named.[66] Officially opened on 23 October 1932,[67] it is considered "one of the world's most comprehensive Armenian intellectual resource centers" with its 100,000 book collection.[68][16] On its opening day, it contained 25,037 volumes (14,518 in Armenian and 11,519 in other languages).[69] Three decades later, in 1963, the number reached around 50,000.[70]

St. Toros Manuscript Library, founded in 1897,[71] holds 3,890 inventoried and cataloged Armenian manuscripts,[72] making it the second largest in the world, after the Matenadaran in Yerevan, Armenia.[73][72] In 1931, the number of cataloged manuscripts stood at 2,720.[74]

Other

Armenian Garden[75]

Other (non-Armenian)

Churches[d]

The Syriac Orthodox St. Mark's Monastery is located on Ararat St.[78] The Assyrians/Syriacs share the Armenians's miaphysitism and "hence tended to prefer to live under the 'umbrella' of the larger and stronger Armenian community."[79]

The Greek Orthodox Church of Saint George, with monastery

Christ Church, a 19th-century Anglican church

The Maronite Church (also known as St. Maroun's House), the only Maronite place of worship in Jerusalem[80]

Other

Tower of David (Citadel)[81]

Political status and views

The international community, namely the United Nations General Assembly, considers East Jerusalem of which the Old City is part, to be "Occupied Palestinian Territory".[82]

  

The flag of Armenia in one of the quarter's streets

Armenian views

The "quiet political consensus" among the Armenians of Jerusalem, according to The Economist, is that the Old City should be "neither Palestinian nor Israeli but rather an international 'space', governed by representatives of the three faiths ... and protected by the United Nations and other international bodies."[43] According to Graham Usher, many Armenians cautiously identify with the Palestinian struggle, but few of them "would advocate exclusive Palestinian sovereignty over the Old City."[45] Aram I, the head of the Holy See of Cilicia, one of the sees of the Armenian Apostolic Church, based in Lebanon stated in a 2017 meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun that Jerusalem should be an "open city for the three monotheistic religions: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim, and that the religious rights of these peoples should be protected within Jerusalem."[83][84] Furthermore, Armenians consider the Armenian Quarter to be part of the Christian Quarter.[85] This stance was reaffirmed by Armenia's Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, who in late 2000 stated that Armenia was against the separation of the Armenian and Christian Quarters.[86] In 2017 Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan stated that "Jerusalem has a centuries old Armenian presence, a rich Armenian historical and cultural heritage. Armenian Apostolic Church is one of the major guardians of the Christian Holy Places. Therefore, we attentively follow all developments with regard to Jerusalem."[87]

 

U.S. Old City division proposal

At the 2000 Camp David Summit, U.S. President Bill Clinton proposed the division of the Old City, according to which the Armenian Quarter would be put under de jure Israeli sovereignty along with the Jewish Quarter, while the Palestinians would be granted a "certain degree of sovereignty" over the Christian and Muslim Quarters.[45] Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak conditionally embraced the proposal.[45]

 

Palestinian views

Palestinian leaders have publicly declared that they consider the Armenian Quarter to be a part of Palestine and will not relinquish it to Israel. Yasser Arafat, rejected the US proposal at the 2000 Camp David Summit for the Old City's division and stated: "The Armenian quarter belongs to us. We and Armenians are one people."[16][47] He told Clinton, "My name is not Yasir Arafat, it is Yasir Arafatian," making his name sound Armenian. "I will not betray my Armenian brothers," Arafat said about leaving the Armenian Quarter under Israeli rule.[88] Commenting on his statements, historians Barry Rubin and Judith Colp Rubin wrote that "there was no reason to believe that the Armenians preferred his control [over Israeli control]."[88] In a 2011, meeting with leaders of various Christian communities in Ramallah Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stated: "The Palestinian leadership sticks to its position that considers the Armenian Quarter an integral part of east Jerusalem, the capital of the independent Palestinian state."[89] According to the Palestine Papers, leaked by Al Jazeera in 2011, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat proposed a geographical division of the Old City at an October 2009 meeting, according to which Israel would acquire sovereignty over the entire Jewish Quarter and "part of the Armenian Quarter."[90]

 

Israeli and Jewish views

Israel maintains that all of Jerusalem ("complete and united"), including the Old City, is its capital according to the 1980 Jerusalem Law.[91] In a 1975 article, Rabbi Yakov Goldman called for Israeli sovereignty over all of Old Jerusalem. He wrote of the Armenian Quarter:[92]

 

In the Armenian Quarter only one sector is actually occupied by the Armenian compound. The Armenian compound has a wall around it enclosing the big cathedral and its adjoining buildings. The rest of the quarter had to have a name. It wasn't Jewish, it wasn't Moslem, it wasn't Christian. So they applied to this section the name of its neighbor Armenian—simply a convenient fiction.

Christian views

 

A 1997 Armenian stamp depicting the Armenian Quarter and the St. James monastery

The Armenian, Greek Orthodox and Latin Patriarchs of Jerusalem sent a "strongly worded" letter to the negotiators at the 2000 Camp David Summit,[16] stating: "We regard the Christian and Armenian Quarters of the Old City as inseparable and contiguous entities that are firmly united by the same faith."[93][94] Pope Benedict XVI, during his 2009 visit to St. James Cathedral, stated:[95][96]

 

From the first Christian centuries, the Armenian community in Jerusalem has had an illustrious history, marked not least by an extraordinary flourishing of monastic life and culture linked to the holy places and the liturgical traditions which developed around them. This venerable Cathedral Church, together with the Patriarchate and the various educational and cultural institutions attached to it, testifies to that long and distinguished history.

See also

Armenians in Israel

List of Armenian ethnic enclaves

References

Notes

currently mostly known as Երուսաղէմի հայկական թաղամաս, Yerusaghemi haykakan t'aghamas. reformed orthography: Երուսաղեմի հայկական թաղամաս; Western Armenian pronunciation: Yerusaghemi haygagan t'aghamas

"Apart from their monophysite views there is no reason why the Armenian community should not live happily with the other groups in the Christian Quarter. Yet, David Street is a dividing line of more than just theological significance, for the Armenians with their separate language and culture from the Arabs also have an almost exclusively commercial economic basis. Apart from the comparatively close relations between the Syrian Orthodox Community and the Armenians for theological reasons, the Armenians have preferred to separate themselves from Arabs of all faiths."[3]

"The difference, as I see it, is that by and large most of the Christian communities here are Palestinian ethnically, whereas the Armenians have their own ethnic identity as Armenians, and that is where in some sense they stand out or differ."[4]

The traditional date is 301 AD. A growing number of authors argue that the correct date is 314 by citing the Edict of Milan.[9][10] Elizabeth Redgate writes that "the scholarly consensus is to prefer c. 314."[11]

"The remaining third includes churches of four other denominations: Syriac Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Maronite and Anglican."[76]

"... four other denominations (Syrian, Maronite Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Anglican) have churches in this part of the city."[77]

St Albans Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, is a Church of England cathedral church within St Albans, England. At 84 metres (276 ft), its nave is the longest of any cathedral in England. With much of its present architecture dating from Norman times, it was formerly known as St Albans Abbey before it became a cathedral in 1877. It is the second longest cathedral in the United Kingdom (after Winchester). Local residents often call it "the abbey", although the present cathedral represents only the church of the old Benedictine abbey.

 

The abbey church, although legally a cathedral church, differs in certain particulars from most of the other cathedrals in England: it is also used as a parish church, of which the dean is rector. He has the same powers, responsibilities and duties as the rector of any other parish.

 

Alban was a pagan living in the Roman city of Verulamium, now Verulamium Park, in St Albans, in Hertfordshire, England, about 22 miles (35 km) north of London along Watling Street. Before Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, local Christians were being persecuted by the Romans. Alban sheltered their priest, Saint Amphibalus, in his home and was converted to the Christian faith by him. When the soldiers came to Alban's house looking for the priest, Alban exchanged cloaks with the priest and let himself be arrested in his place. Alban was taken before the magistrate, where he avowed his new Christian faith and was condemned for it. He was beheaded, according to legend, on the spot where the cathedral named after him now stands. The site is on a steep hill and legend has it that his head rolled down the hill after being cut off and that a well sprang up at the point where it stopped.

A well certainly exists today and the road up to the cathedral is named Holywell Hill. However the current well structure is no older than the late 19th century and it is thought that the name of the street derives from the "Halywell" river and "Halywell Bridge", not from the well.

 

The date of Alban's execution is a matter of some debate and is generally given as "circa 250"—scholars generally suggest dates of 209, 254 or 304.

 

History of the abbey and cathedral

 

A memoria over the execution point and holding the remains of Alban existed at the site from the mid-4th century (possibly earlier); Bedementions a church and Gildas a shrine. Bishop Germanus of Auxerre visited in 429 and took a portion of the apparently still bloody earth away. The style of this structure is unknown; the 13th century chronicler Matthew Paris (see below) claimed that the Saxons destroyed the building in 586.

 

Saxon buildings

Offa II of Mercia, who ruled in the 8th century, is said to have founded the Benedictine abbey and monastery at St Albans. All later religious structures are dated from the foundation of Offa's abbey in 793. The abbey was built on Holmhurst Hill—now Holywell Hill—across the River Ver from the ruins of Verulamium. Again there is no information to the form of the first abbey. The abbey was probably sacked by the Danes around 890 and, despite Paris's claims, the office of abbot remained empty from around 920 until the 970s when the efforts of Dunstanreached the town.

 

There was an intention to rebuild the abbey in 1005 when Abbot Ealdred was licensed to remove building material from Verulamium. With the town resting on clay and chalk the only tough stone is flint. This was used with a lime mortar and then either plastered over or left bare. With the great quantities of brick, tile and other stone in Verulamium the Roman site became a prime source of building material for the abbeys, and other projects in the area, up to the 18th century. Sections demanding worked stone used Lincolnshire limestone (Barnack stone) from Verulamium, later worked stones include Totternhoe freestone from Bedfordshire, Purbeck marble, and different limestones (Ancaster, Chilmark, Clipsham, etc.).

Renewed Viking raids from 1016 stalled the Saxon efforts and very little from the Saxon abbey was incorporated in the later forms.

 

The nave. The north wall (left) features a mix of Norman arches dating back to 1077 and arches in the Early English style of 1200.

 

Norman abbey

Much of the current layout and proportions of the structure date from the first Norman abbot, Paul of Caen (1077–1093). The 14th abbot, he was appointed by the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc.

 

Building work started in the year of Abbot Paul's arrival. The design and construction was overseen by the Norman Robert the Mason. The plan has very limited Anglo-Saxon elements and is clearly influenced by the French work at Cluny, Bernay, and Caen and shares a similar floor plan to Saint-Étienne and Lanfranc's Canterbury—although the poorer quality building material was a new challenge for Robert and he clearly borrowed some Roman techniques, learned while gathering material in Verulamium. To take maximum use of the hilltop the abbey was oriented to the south-east. The cruciform abbey was the largest built in England at that time, it had a chancel of four bays, a transept containing seven apses, and a nave of ten bays—fifteen bays long overall. Robert gave particular attention to solid foundations, running a continuous wall of layered bricks, flints and mortar below and pushing the foundations down to twelve feet to hit bedrock. Below the crossing tower special large stones were used.

 

The tower was a particular triumph—it is the only 11th century great crossing tower still standing in England. Robert began with special thick supporting walls and four massive brick piers. The four-level tower tapers at each stage with clasping buttresses on the three lower levels and circular buttresses on the fourth stage. The entire structure masses 5,000 tons and is 144 feet high. The tower was probably topped with a Norman pyramidal roof; the current roof is flat. The original ringing chamber had five bells—two paid for by the Abbot, two by a wealthy townsman, and one donated by the rector of Hoddesdon. None of these bells has survived.

There was a widespread belief that the abbey had two additional, smaller towers at the west end. No remains have been found.

 

The monastic abbey was completed in 1089 but not consecrated until Holy Innocents' Day, 1115, (28 Dec) by the Archbishop of Rouen. King Henry I attended as did many bishops and nobles.

A nunnery (Sopwell Priory) was founded nearby in 1140.

 

Internally the abbey was bare of sculpture, almost stark. The plaster walls were coloured and patterned in parts, with extensive tapestries adding colour. Sculptural decoration was added, mainly ornaments, as it became more fashionable in the 12th century—especially after the Gothic style arrived in England around 1170.

 

In the current structure the original Norman arches survive principally under the central tower and on the north side of the nave. The arches in the rest of the building are Gothic, following medieval rebuilding and extensions, and Victorian era restoration.

 

The abbey was extended in the 1190s by Abbot John de Cella (also known as John of Wallingford) (1195–1214); as the number of monks grew from fifty to over a hundred, the abbey was extended westwards with three bays added to the nave. The severe Norman west front was also rebuilt by Hugh de Goldclif—although how is uncertain, it was very costly but its 'rapid' weathering and later alterations have erased all but fragments. A more prominent shrine and altar to Saint Amphibalus were also added. The work was very slow under de Cella and was not completed until the time of Abbot William de Trumpington (1214–35). The low Norman tower roof was demolished and a new, much higher, broached spire was raised, sheathed in lead.

The St Albans Psalter (ca. 1130–45) is the best known of a number of important Romanesque illuminated manuscripts produced in the Abbey scriptorium. Later, Matthew Paris, a monk at St Albans from 1217 until his death in 1259, was important both as a chronicler and an artist. Eighteen of his manuscripts survive and are a rich source of contemporary information for historians.

Nicholas Breakspear was born near St Albans and applied to be admitted to the abbey as a novice, but he was turned down. He eventually managed to be accepted into an abbey in France. In 1154 he was elected Pope Adrian IV, the only English Pope there has ever been. The head of the abbey was confirmed as the premier abbot in England also in 1154.

 

13th to 15th centuries

 

An earthquake shook the abbey in 1250 and damaged the eastern end of the church. In 1257 the dangerously cracked sections were knocked down—three apses and two bays. The thick Presbytery wall supporting the tower was left. The rebuilding and updating was completed during the rule of Abbot Roger de Norton (1263–90).

 

On 10 October 1323 two piers on the south side of the nave collapsed dragging down much of the roof and wrecking five bays. Mason Henry Wy undertook the rebuilding, matching the Early English style of the rest of the bays but adding distinctly 14th century detailing and ornaments. The shrine to St Amphibalus had also been damaged and was remade.

 

Abbey Gateway, now part of St. Albans School.

Richard of Wallingford, abbot from 1297 to 1336 and a mathematician and astronomer, designed a celebrated clock, which was completed by William of Walsham after his death, but apparently destroyed during the reformation.

 

A new gateway, now called the Abbey Gateway, was built to the abbey grounds in 1365, which was the only part of the monastery buildings (besides the church) to survive the dissolution, later being used as a prison and now part of St Albans School. The other monastic buildings were located to the south of the gateway and church.

 

In the 15th century a large west window of nine main lights and a deep traced head was commissioned by John of Wheathampstead. The spire was reduced to a 'Hertfordshire spike', the roof pitch greatly reduced and battlements liberally added. Further new windows, at £50 each, were put in the transept by Abbot Wallingford (also known as William of Wallingford), who also had a new high altar screen made.

 

Dissolution and after

After the death of Abbot Ramryge in 1521 the abbey fell into debt and slow decay under three weak abbots. At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries and its surrender on 5 December 1539 the income was £2,100 annually. The abbot and remaining forty monks were pensioned off and then the buildings were looted. All gold, silver and gilt objects were carted away with all other valuables; stonework was broken and defaced and graves opened to burn the contents.

 

The abbey became part of the diocese of Lincoln in 1542 and was moved to the diocese of London in 1550. The buildings suffered—neglect, second-rate repairs, even active damage. Richard Lee purchased all the buildings, except the church and chapel and some other Crown premises, in 1550. Lee then began the systematic demolition for building material to improve Lee Hall at Sopwell. In 1551, with the stone removed, Lee returned the land to the abbot. The area was named Abbey Ruins for the next 200 years or so.

 

In 1553 the Lady chapel became a school, the Great Gatehouse a town jail, some other buildings passed to the Crown, and the Abbey Church was sold to the town for £400 in 1553 by King Edward VI to be the church of the parish.

 

The cost of upkeep fell upon the town, although in 1596 and at irregular intervals later the Archdeacon was allowed to collect money for repairs by Brief in the diocese. After James I visited in 1612 he authorised another Brief, which collected around £2,000—most of which went on roof repairs. The English Civil War slashed the monies spent on repairs, while the abbey was used to hold prisoners of war and suffered from their vandalism, as well as that of their guards. Most of the metal objects that had survived the Dissolution were also removed and other ornamental parts were damaged in Puritan sternness. Another round of fund-raising in 1681–84 was again spent on the roof, repairing the Presbytery vault. A royal grant from William and Mary in 1689 went on general maintenance, 'repairs' to conceal some of the unfashionable Gothic features, and on new internal fittings. There was a second royal grant from William in 1698.

By the end of the 17th century the dilapidation was sufficient for a number of writers to comment upon it.

 

In 1703, from 26 November to 1 December, the Great Storm raged across southern England; the abbey lost the south transept window which was replaced in wood at a cost of £40. The window was clear glass with five lights and three transoms in an early Gothic Revival style by John Hawgood. Other windows, although not damaged in the storm, were a constant drain on the abbey budget in the 18th century.

 

A brief in 1723–24, seeking £5,775, notes a great crack in the south wall, that the north wall was eighteen inches from vertical, and that the roof timbers were decayed to the point of danger. The money raised was spent on the nave roof over ten bays.

 

Another brief was not issued until 1764. Again the roof was rotting, as was the south transept window, walls were cracked or shattered in part and the south wall had subsided and now leant outwards. Despite a target of £2,500 a mere £600 was raised.

In the 1770s the abbey came close to demolition; the expense of repairs meant a scheme to destroy the abbey and erect a smaller church almost succeeded.

 

A storm in 1797 caused some subsidence, cracking open graves, scattering pavement tiles, flooding the church interior and leaving a few more arches off-vertical.

 

19th century

 

The Wallingford Screen of c. 1480—the statues are Victorian replacements (1884–89) of the originals, destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, when the screen itself was also damaged. Statues of St Alban and St Amphibalus stand on either side of the altar.

 

This century was marked with a number of repair schemes. The abbey received some money from the 1818 "Million Act", and in 1820 £450 was raised to buy an organ—a second-hand example made in 1670.

 

The major efforts to revive the abbey church came under four men—L. N. Cottingham, Rector H. J. B. Nicholson, and, especially, George Gilbert Scott and Edmund Beckett, first Baron Grimthorpe.

 

In February 1832 a portion of the clerestory wall fell through the roof of the south aisle, leaving a hole almost thirty feet long. With the need for serious repair work evident the architect Lewis Nockalls Cottingham was called in to survey the building. His Survey was presented in 1832 and was worrying reading: everywhere mortar was in a wretched condition and wooden beams were rotting and twisting. Cottingham recommended new beams throughout the roof and a new steeper pitch, removal of the spire and new timbers in the tower, new paving, ironwork to hold the west transept wall up, a new stone south transept window, new buttresses, a new drainage system for the roof, new ironwork on almost all the windows, and on and on. He estimated a cost of £14,000. A public subscription of £4,000 was raised, of which £1,700 vanished in expenses. With the limited funds the clerestory wall was rebuilt, the nave roof re-leaded, the tower spike removed, some forty blocked windows reopened and glazed, and the south window remade in stone.

 

Henry Nicholson, rector from 1835 to 1866, was also active in repairing the abbey church—as far as he could, and in uncovering lost or neglected Gothic features.

 

In 1856 repair efforts began again; £4,000 was raised and slow moves started to gain the abbey the status of cathedral. George Gilbert Scottwas appointed the project architect and oversaw a number of works from 1860 until his death in 1878.

Scott began by having the medieval floor restored, necessitating the removal of tons of earth, and fixing the north aisle roof. From 1872–77 the restored floors were re-tiled in matching stone and copies of old tile designs. A further 2,000 tons of earth were shifted in 1863 during work on the foundation and a new drainage system. In 1870 the tower piers were found to be badly weakened with many cracks and cavities. Huge timbers were inserted and the arches filled with brick as an emergency measure. Repair work took until May 1871 and cost over £2,000. The south wall of the nave was now far from straight; Scott reinforced the north wall and put in scaffolding to take the weight of the roof off the wall, then had it jacked straight in under three hours. The wall was then buttressed with five huge new masses and set right. Scott was lauded as "saviour of the Abbey." From 1870–75 around £20,000 was spent on the abbey.

In 1845 St Albans was transferred from the Diocese of Lincoln to the Diocese of Rochester. Then, in 1875, the Bishopric of St Albans Act was passed and on 30 April 1877 the See of St Albans was created, which comprises about 300 churches in the counties of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. The then Bishop of Rochester, the Right Revd Dr Thomas Legh Claughton, elected to take the northern division of his old diocese and on 12 June 1877 was enthroned first Bishop of St Albans, a position he held until 1890. He is buried in the churchyard on the north side of the nave.

George Gilbert Scott was working on the nave roof, vaulting and west bay when he died on 27 March 1878. His plans were partially completed by his son, John Oldrid Scott, but the remaining work fell into the hands of Lord Grimthorpe, whose efforts have attracted much controversy—Nikolaus Pevsner calling him a "pompous, righteous bully." However, he donated much of the immense sum of £130,000 the work cost.

 

Whereas Scott's work had clearly been in sympathy with the existing building, Grimthorpe's plans reflected the Victorian ideal. Indeed, he spent considerable time dismissing and criticising the work of Scott and the efforts of his son.

Grimthorpe first reinstated the original pitch of the roof, although the battlements added for the lower roof were retained. Completed in 1879, the roof was leaded, following on Scott's desires.

 

1805 engraving of the west front of the abbey showing the lost Wheathampstead window.

His second major project was the most controversial. The west front, with the great Wheathampstead window, was cracked and leaning, and Grimthorpe, never more than an amateur architect, designed the new front himself—attacked as dense, misproportioned and unsympathetic: "His impoverishment as a designer ... [is] evident"; "this man, so practical and ingenious, was utterly devoid of taste ... his great qualities were marred by arrogance ... and a lack of historic sense". Counter proposals were deliberately substituted by Grimthorpe for poorly drawn versions and Grimthorpe's design was accepted?. During building it was considerably reworked in order to fit the actual frontage and is not improved by the poor quality sculpture. Work began in 1880 and was completed in April 1883, having cost £20,000.

 

The Lady Chapel at the east end of the cathedral.

Grimthorpe was noted for his aversion to the Perpendicular—to the extent that he would have sections he disliked demolished as "too rotten" rather than remade. In his reconstruction, especially of windows, he commonly mixed architectural styles carelessly (see the south aisle, the south choir screen and vaulting). He spent £50,000 remaking the nave. Elsewhere he completely rebuilt the south wall cloisters, with new heavy buttresses, and removed the arcading of the east cloisters during rebuilding the south transept walls. In the south transept he completely remade the south face, completed in 1885, including the huge lancet window group—his proudest achievement—and the flanking turrets; a weighty new tiled roof was also made. In the north transept Grimthorpe had the Perpendicular window demolished and his design inserted—a rose window of circles, cusped circles and lozenges arrayed in five rings around the central light, sixty-four lights in total, each circle with a different glazing pattern.

 

Grimthorpe continued through the Presbytery in his own style, adapting the antechapel for Consistory Courts, and into the Lady Chapel. After a pointed lawsuit with Henry Hucks Gibbs, first Baron Aldenham over who should direct the restoration, Grimthorpe had the vault remade and reproportioned in stone, made the floor in black and white marble (1893), and had new Victorian arcading and sculpture put below the canopy work. Externally the buttresses were expanded to support the new roof, and the walls were refaced.

As early as 1897, Grimthorpe was having to return to previously renovated sections to make repairs. His use of over-strong cement led to cracking, while his fondness for ironwork in windows led to corrosion and damage to the surrounding stone.

Grimthorpe died in 1905 and was interred in the churchyard. He left a bequest for continuing work on the buildings.

 

During this century the name St Albans Abbey was given to one of the town's railway stations.

 

20th century

John Oldrid Scott (died 1913) (George Gilbert Scott's son), despite frequent clashes with Grimthorpe, had continued working within the cathedral. Scott was a steadfast supporter of the Gothic revival and designed the tomb of the first bishop; he had a new bishop's throne built (1903), together with commemorative stalls for Bishop Festing and two Archdeacons, and new choir stalls. He also repositioned and rebuilt the organ (1907). Further work was interrupted by the war.

A number of memorials to the war were added to the cathedral, notably the painting The Passing of Eleanor by Frank Salisbury (stolen 1973) and the reglazing of the main west window, dedicated in 1925.

 

Following the Enabling Act of 1919 control of the buildings passed to a Parochial Church Council (replaced by the Cathedral Council in 1968), who appointed the woodwork specialist John Rogers as Architect and Surveyor of the Fabric. He uncovered extensive death watch beetledamage in the presbytery vault and oversaw the repair (1930–31). He had four tons of rubbish removed from the crossing tower and the main timbers reinforced (1931–32), and invested in the extensive use of insecticide throughout the wood structures. In 1934, the eight bells were overhauled and four new bells added to be used in the celebration of George V's jubilee.

 

Cecil Brown was architect and surveyor from 1939 to 1962. At first he merely oversaw the lowering of the bells for the war and established a fire watch, with the pump in the slype. After the war, in the 1950s, the organ was removed, rebuilt and reinstalled and new pews added. His major work was on the crossing tower. Grimthorpe's cement was found to be damaging the Roman bricks: every brick in the tower was replaced as needed and reset in proper mortar by one man, Walter Barrett. The tower ceiling was renovated as were the nave murals. Brown established the Muniments Room to gather and hold all the church documents.

In 1972, to encourage a closer link between celebrant and congregation, the massive nine-ton pulpit along with the choir stalls and permanent pews was dismantled and removed. The altar space was enlarged and improved. New 'lighter' wood (limed oak) choir stalls were put in, and chairs replaced the pews. A new wooden pulpit was acquired from a Norfolk church and installed in 1974. External floodlighting was added in 1975.

A major survey in 1974 revealed new leaks, decay and other deterioration, and a ten-year restoration plan was agreed. Again the roofing required much work. The nave and clerestory roofs were repaired in four stages with new leading. The nave project was completed in 1984 at a total cost of £1.75 million. The clerestory windows were repaired with the corroded iron replaced with delta bronze and other Grimthorpe work on the clerestory was replaced. Seventy-two new heads for the corbel table were made. Grimthorpe's west front was cracking, again due to the use originally of too strong a mortar, and was repaired.

 

A new visitors' centre was proposed in 1970. Planning permission was sought in 1973; there was a public inquiry and approval was granted in 1977. Constructed to the south side of the cathedral close to the site of the original chapter house of the abbey, the new 'Chapter House' cost around £1 million and was officially opened on 8 June 1982 by Queen Elizabeth. The main building material was 500,000 replica Roman bricks.

 

Other late 20th-century works include the restoration of Alban's shrine, with a new embroidered canopy, and the stained glass designed by Alan Younger for Grimthorpe's north transept rose window, unveiled in 1989 by Diana, Princess of Wales.

 

Modern times

The Bishop is the Right Reverend Alan Smith, installed in September 2009. The Venerable Jonathan Smith is Archdeacon of St Albans, installed in October 2008. On 2 July 2004, the Very Reverend Canon Dr Jeffrey John became the ninth Dean of the Cathedral.

 

Robert Runcie, later Archbishop of Canterbury, was bishop of St Albans from 1970 to 1980 and returned to live in the city after his retirement; he is commemorated by a gargoyle on the Cathedral as well as being buried in the graveyard. Colin Slee, former Dean of Southwark Cathedral, was sub-dean at St Albans under Runcie and then Dean, Peter Moore. The bishop's house is in Abbey Mill Lane, St Albans, as is the house of the Bishop of Hertford. The Reverend Canon Eric James, Chaplain Extraordinary to HM the Queen, was Canon at St Albans for many years.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Albans_Cathedral

 

Archeological finds suggest that this may well have been a scriptorium/school for the copying of manuscripts. On a day like today the junior monks would have been easily distracted by the views. Nendrum monastery, Mahee island, Strangford Lough.

La cueva del oratorio del Santo. Millán fue un pastor que vivió entre los siglos V y VI (muere a los 101 años); un día cambiaría su rebaño de ovejas por la búsqueda del retiro espiritual que encontrará en el interior de las cuevas. Las de Suso fueron la vivienda durante los últimos años de vida. En este lugar fue enterrado Millán tras su muerte (año 574). Santificado en el 1030 y convertido años más tarde en patrón de Castilla y Navarra.

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monasterio_de_San_Millán_de_Suso

 

The cave of the Saint's oratory. Millán was a shepherd who lived between the 5th and 6th centuries (he dies at 101); One day he would trade his flock of sheep in search of the spiritual retreat that he will find inside the caves. Suso's were his home during the last years of his life. Millán was buried in this place after his death (year 574). Sanctified in 1030 and years later became the patron of Castile and Navarre.

  

The monasteries of San Millán de Suso (6th century) and San Millán de Yuso (11th century) are two monasteries situated in the village of San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja, Spain. They have been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since December 1997.

The two monasteries' names Suso and Yuso mean the "upper" and the "lower" in archaic Castilian, respectively. Suso is the older building and is believed to be built on the site of a hermitage where Saint Emilian (Spanish: San Millán) lived. Perhaps Suso's major claim to fame is as the place where phrases in the Spanish and Basque languages were written for the first time. UNESCO acknowledges the property "as the birthplace of the modern written and spoken Spanish language". The phrases in Spanish and Basque are glosses on a Latin text and are known as the Glosas Emilianenses. There is some debate as to whether the Spanish words are written in an early form of Castilian or in a related dialect. In either case, San Millán's importance as a cradle of the Spanish language is reinforced by the proximity of the village of Berceo which is associated with Gonzalo de Berceo, the first Spanish poet known by name.

There is a continuous history of Christianity at San Millán since the time of the saint. The scriptorium produced the second phase of the San Millán Beatus and remained active during the period of Muslim rule; and over the centuries, the religious community has overcome various vicissitudes which affected the monasteries (for example being sacked by the Black Prince). However the type of monastic life evolved: the original monks living at Suso were hermits, but Yuso, the refoundation of the monastery on a lower site, developed as a Benedictine community. As the UNESCO evaluation noted, San Millán shows the transformation from an eremetic to a cenobitic community in material terms.

Suso monastery has been uninhabited since the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal in the nineteenth century. Yuso monastery was also abandoned for some years in the nineteenth century, but was reoccupied. It houses an Augustinian community, but part of the monastery has been converted into a hotel. Today San Millán attracts pilgrims on the Way of St James (even though it lies somewhat off the line of the official route between Nájera and Burgos).

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monasteries_of_San_Millán_de_la_Co...

 

El monasterio de San Millán de Suso o monasterio de Suso ("suso" significa "arriba" en castellano, aunque ya está en desuso) se halla ubicado cerca de la villa de San Millán de la Cogolla, en la comunidad autónoma de La Rioja (España), en la margen izquierda del río Cárdenas. Forma parte del conjunto monumental de dos monasterios, junto con otro construido posteriormente y que se sitúa más abajo, llamado Monasterio de San Millán de Yuso, ambos declarados Patrimonio de la Humanidad.

Iniciada su construcción a finales del siglo VI, tiene su origen en un cenobio visigodo establecido alrededor del sepulcro del eremita Aemilianus (Millán) o Emiliano, fallecido en el año 574. A lo largo de los siglos siguientes y hasta el siglo XII sufre distintas ampliaciones como consecuencia del cambio de vida eremítica a la cenobítica y posterior monástica, distinguiéndose en ellas el estilo mozárabe y el románico. Su importancia no es sólo artística y religiosa, sino también lingüística y literaria. Aquí un monje escribió las Glosas Emilianenses, que eran anotaciones aclaratorias en los márgenes de las páginas escritas en latín. Dichas anotaciones estaban escritas en romance. En este monasterio aparecen a su vez las primeras anotaciones escritas en euskera, por lo que se ha considerado la cuna de dichos romances hispanos y del euskera. Aquí habitó asimismo el monje y primer poeta de nombre conocido en castellano, Gonzalo de Berceo.

También la tradición atribuye que en el "portaliello" de este monasterio están los que pasan por ser los sarcófagos de los siete infantes de Lara de la leyenda.

En los primeros tiempos de la llegada de los visigodos a la Península, se retiró a este lugar apartado y recóndito el anacoreta Aemilianus (Millán), hijo de un pastor y natural de Vergegium, actual Berceo. Aquí vivió como ermitaño, cobijado en una pequeña celda, muriendo a la edad de 101 años y siendo enterrado en una tumba excavada en la roca. Se sabe mucho de su vida porque fue escrita en latín hacia el año 635 por el obispo de Zaragoza llamado Braulio, siendo Gonzalo de Berceo, que se educó en este monasterio, quien tradujo esta biografía del latín a versos en lengua vulgar o romance.

El pequeño monasterio se construyó alrededor de la celda rupestre del ermitaño. En una primera etapa (siglo V y principios del VI) se excavan cuevas aprovechando oquedades del terreno, las cuales se distribuyen en dos niveles destinadas a habitaciones, y otras dos a oratorio, donde actualmente se sitúan el cenotafio de San Millán y el osario.

Entre los siglos VI y VII, el cambio de vida eremítica a cenobítica exige la construcción de un edificio para reunirse, siendo esta la primera construcción propiamente dicha, correspondiéndose con los dos compartimentos abovedados que se sitúan más a la derecha según se entra al monasterio existente, de la que se conservan actualmente los muros y varios de los arcos visigodos.

En la primera mitad del siglo x y partiendo del cenobio visigodo se construye el monasterio mozárabe, consagrándose en 954 por García Sánchez I de Navarra, primer monarca instalado en Nájera, del que se conserva gran parte de la estructura. A esta etapa corresponde la galería de entrada y la nave principal de la iglesia, construida con bóvedas de estilo califal y arcos de herradura.

En el año 1002, Almanzor incendió este monasterio, desapareciendo con ello la decoración pictórica y estucos mozárabes.

En 1030, Sancho III el Mayor de Navarra con motivo de la santificación de San Millán, restaura y amplía el monasterio por el oeste añadiéndose dos arcos más de medio punto a los existentes de herradura y se cambia la situación del altar, que se orienta al este. Por último, en los siglos XI y XII se realizan otras ampliaciones con muros y arcos de medio punto ante las primitivas cuevas del eremitorio.

La situación geográfica de este pequeño monasterio tuvo gran importancia para las relaciones con otros centros de cultura. Tenía influencias castellanas y francas además de que sus vecinos eran los monjes de Silos y Albelda; estaba bastante cerca del Camino de Santiago y poseía además un rico sustrato mozárabe y visigodo. Sumando todo esto, en San Millán pudo conseguirse una nueva y muy importante cultura monástica.

El 7 de diciembre de 1997 fue declarado Patrimonio de la Humanidad en Europa.

  

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monasterio_de_San_Millán_de_Suso

 

Suso – Monasterio de San Millán (monasteriodesanmillan.com)

 

San Millán Yuso and Suso Monasteries - UNESCO World Heritage Centre

 

Morimondo, Milano

My entry to Summer Joust 2021 in category Monastery (surprising, isnt't it?)

 

I took inspiration from various examples of gothic architecture in Europe. The model includes interiors: a cathedral, scriptorium , pantry and two cells.

En partie détruite, l'abbaye conserve actuellement les restes d'une aile romane édifiée au 11ème siècle, qui compte parmi les plus an-ciens bâtiments conventuels existant en France. Depuis 1930, elle héberge le musée archéologique de Dijon.

Niveau 0 : la salle capitulaire et le scriptorium de style roman (11èS) qui, à l'origine, se trouvaient de plein-pied, le cloître ayant été re-haussé de 2m dans la 2de moitié du 17ème siècle;

Niveau 1 : le dortoir des moines de style gothique (13èS), devenu salle du chapitre et réfectoire (toujours au 17èS) et dont les étroites fenêtres ont alors été remplacées par de larges baies cintrées;

Niveau 2 : des salles du plus récentes (17èS), résultant des travaux de surélévation engagés dès 1652 par les moines mauristes pour l'ajout de nouvelles cellules.

 

Wells Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England, dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, whose cathedra it holds as mother church of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Built as a Roman Catholic cathedral from around 1175 to replace an earlier church on the site since 705, it became an Anglican cathedral when King Henry VIII split from Rome. It is moderately sized for an English cathedral. Its broad west front and large central tower are dominant features. It has been called "unquestionably one of the most beautiful" and "most poetic" of English cathedrals.

 

Its Gothic architecture is mostly inspired from Early English style of the late 12th to early 13th centuries, lacking the Romanesque work that survives in many other cathedrals. Building began about 1175 at the east end with the choir. Historian John Harvey sees it as Europe's first truly Gothic structure, breaking the last constraints of Romanesque. The stonework of its pointed arcades and fluted piers bears pronounced mouldings and carved capitals in a foliate, "stiff-leaf" style. Its Early English front with 300 sculpted figures is seen as a "supreme triumph of the combined plastic arts in England". The east end retains much ancient stained glass. Unlike many cathedrals of monastic foundation, Wells has many surviving secular buildings linked to its chapter of secular canons, including the Bishop's Palace and the 15th-century residential Vicars' Close It is a Grade I listed building.

 

The earliest remains of a building on the site are of a late-Roman mausoleum, identified during excavations in 1980. An abbey church was built in Wells in 705 by Aldhelm, first bishop of the newly established Diocese of Sherborne during the reign of King Ine of Wessex. It was dedicated to St Andrew and stood at the site of the cathedral's cloisters, where some excavated remains can be seen. The font in the cathedral's south transept is from this church and is the oldest part of the present building. In 766 Cynewulf, King of Wessex, signed a charter endowing the church with eleven hides of land. In 909 the seat of the diocese was moved from Sherborne to Wells.

 

The first bishop of Wells was Athelm (909), who crowned King Æthelstan. Athelm and his nephew Dunstan both became Archbishops of Canterbury. During this period a choir of boys was established to sing the liturgy. Wells Cathedral School, which was established to educate these choirboys, dates its foundation to this point. There is, however, some controversy over this. Following the Norman Conquest, John de Villula moved the seat of the bishop from Wells to Bath in 1090. The church at Wells, no longer a cathedral, had a college of secular clergy.

 

The cathedral is thought to have been conceived and commenced in about 1175 by Reginald Fitz Jocelin, who died in 1191. Although it is clear from its size that from the outset, the church was planned to be the cathedral of the diocese, the seat of the bishop moved between Wells and the abbeys of Glastonbury and Bath, before settling at Wells. In 1197 Reginald's successor, Savaric FitzGeldewin, with the approval of Pope Celestine III, officially moved his seat to Glastonbury Abbey. The title of Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury was used until the Glastonbury claim was abandoned in 1219.

 

Savaric's successor, Jocelin of Wells, again moved the bishop's seat to Bath Abbey, with the title Bishop of Bath. Jocelin was a brother of Hugh (II) of Lincoln and was present at the signing of the Magna Carta. Jocelin continued the building campaign begun by Reginald and was responsible for the Bishop's Palace, the choristers' school, a grammar school, a hospital for travellers and a chapel. He also had a manor house built at Wookey, near Wells. Jocelin saw the church dedicated in 1239 but, despite much lobbying of the Pope by Jocelin's representatives in Rome, did not live to see cathedral status granted. The delay may have been a result of inaction by Pandulf Verraccio, a Roman ecclesiastical politician, papal legate to England and Bishop of Norwich, who was asked by the Pope to investigate the situation but did not respond. Jocelin died at Wells on 19 November 1242 and was buried in the choir of the cathedral; the memorial brass on his tomb is one of the earliest brasses in England. Following his death the monks of Bath unsuccessfully attempted to regain authority over Wells.

 

In 1245 the ongoing dispute over the title of the bishop was resolved by a ruling of Pope Innocent IV, who established the title as the "Bishop of Bath and Wells", which it has remained until this day, with Wells as the principal seat of the bishop. Since the 11th century the church has had a chapter of secular clergy, like the cathedrals of Chichester, Hereford, Lincoln and York. The chapter was endowed with 22 prebends (lands from which finance was drawn) and a provost to manage them. On acquiring cathedral status, in common with other such cathedrals, it had four chief clergy, the dean, precentor, chancellor and sacristan, who were responsible for the spiritual and material care of the cathedral.

 

The building programme, begun by Reginald Fitz Jocelin, Bishop in the 12th century, continued under Jocelin of Wells, who was a canon from 1200, then bishop from 1206. Adam Locke was master mason from about 1192 until 1230. It was designed in the new style with pointed arches, later known as Gothic, which was introduced at about the same time at Canterbury Cathedral. Work was halted between 1209 and 1213 when King John was excommunicated and Jocelin was in exile, but the main parts of the church were complete by the time of the dedication by Jocelin in 1239.

 

By the time the cathedral, including the chapter house, was finished in 1306, it was already too small for the developing liturgy, and unable to accommodate increasingly grand processions of clergy. John Droxford initiated another phase of building under master mason Thomas of Whitney, during which the central tower was heightened and an eight-sided Lady chapel was added at the east end by 1326. Ralph of Shrewsbury followed, continuing the eastward extension of the choir and retrochoir beyond. He oversaw the building of Vicars' Close and the Vicars' Hall, to give the men who were employed to sing in the choir a secure place to live and dine, away from the town and its temptations. He had an uneasy relationship with the citizens of Wells, partly because of his imposition of taxes, and he surrounded his palace with crenellated walls, a moat and a drawbridge.

 

John Harewell raised money for the completion of the west front by William Wynford, who was appointed as master mason in 1365. One of the foremost master masons of his time, Wynford worked for the king at Windsor, Winchester Cathedral and New College, Oxford. At Wells, he designed the western towers of which north-west was not built until the following century. In the 14th century, the central piers of the crossing were found to be sinking under the weight of the crossing tower which had been damaged by an earthquake in the previous century. Strainer arches, sometimes described as scissor arches, were inserted by master mason William Joy to brace and stabilise the piers as a unit.

 

By the reign of Henry VII the cathedral was complete, appearing much as it does today (though the fittings have changed). From 1508 to 1546, the eminent Italian humanist scholar Polydore Vergil was active as the chapter's representative in London. He donated a set of hangings for the choir of the cathedral. While Wells survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries better than the cathedrals of monastic foundation, the abolition of chantries in 1547 resulted in a reduction in its income. Medieval brasses were sold, and a pulpit was placed in the nave for the first time. Between 1551 and 1568, in two periods as dean, William Turner established a herb garden, which was recreated between 2003 and 2010.

 

Elizabeth I gave the chapter and the Vicars Choral a new charter in 1591, creating a new governing body, consisting of a dean and eight residentiary canons with control over the church estates and authority over its affairs, but no longer entitled to elect the dean (that entitlement thenceforward belonged ultimately to the Crown). The stability brought by the new charter ended with the onset of the Civil War and the execution of Charles I. Local fighting damaged the cathedral's stonework, furniture and windows. The dean, Walter Raleigh, a nephew of the explorer Walter Raleigh, was placed under house arrest after the fall of Bridgwater to the Parliamentarians in 1645, first in the rectory at Chedzoy and then in the deanery at Wells. His jailor, the shoe maker and city constable, David Barrett, caught him writing a letter to his wife. When he refused to surrender it, Barrett ran him through with a sword and he died six weeks later, on 10 October 1646. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the choir before the dean's stall. During the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell no dean was appointed and the cathedral fell into disrepair. The bishop went into retirement and some of the clerics were reduced to performing menial tasks.

 

In 1661, after Charles II was restored to the throne, Robert Creighton, the king's chaplain in exile, was appointed dean and was bishop for two years before his death in 1672. His brass lectern, given in thanksgiving, can be seen in the cathedral. He donated the nave's great west window at a cost of £140. Following Creighton's appointment as bishop, the post of dean went to Ralph Bathurst, who had been chaplain to the king, president of Trinity College, Oxford and fellow of the Royal Society. During Bathurst's long tenure the cathedral was restored, but in the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, Puritan soldiers damaged the west front, tore lead from the roof to make bullets, broke the windows, smashed the organ and furnishings, and for a time stabled their horses in the nave.

 

Restoration began again under Thomas Ken who was appointed by the Crown in 1685 and served until 1691. He was one of seven bishops imprisoned for refusing to sign King James II's "Declaration of Indulgence", which would have enabled Catholics to resume positions of political power, but popular support led to their acquittal. Ken refused to take the oath of allegiance to William III and Mary II because James II had not abdicated and with others, known as the Nonjurors, was put out of office. His successor, Richard Kidder, was killed in the Great Storm of 1703 when two chimney stacks on the palace fell on him and his wife, while they were asleep in bed.

 

By the middle of the 19th century, a major restoration programme was needed. Under Dean Goodenough, the monuments were moved to the cloisters and the remaining medieval paint and whitewash removed in an operation known as "the great scrape". Anthony Salvin took charge of the extensive restoration of the choir. Wooden galleries installed in the 16th century were removed and the stalls were given stone canopies and placed further back within the line of the arcade. The medieval stone pulpitum screen was extended in the centre to support a new organ.

 

In 1933 the Friends of Wells Cathedral were formed to support the cathedral's chapter in the maintenance of the fabric, life and work of the cathedral. The late 20th century saw an extensive restoration programme, particularly of the west front. The stained glass is currently under restoration, with a programme underway to conserve the large 14th-century Jesse Tree window at the eastern terminal of the choir.

 

In January 2014, as part of the Bath film festival, the cathedral hosted a special screening of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. This provoked some controversy, but the church defended its decision to allow the screening.

 

In 2021, a contemporary sculpture by Anthony Gormley was unveiled on a temporary plinth outside the cathedral.

 

Since the 13th century, Wells Cathedral has been the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Its governing body, the chapter, is made up of five clerical canons (the dean, the precentor, the canon chancellor, the canon treasurer, and the archdeacon of Wells) and four lay members: the administrator (chief executive), Keeper of the Fabric, Overseer of the Estate and the chairman of the cathedral shop and catering boards. The current bishop of Bath and Wells is Peter Hancock, who was installed in a service in the cathedral on 7 June 2014. John Davies has been Dean of Wells since 2016.

 

Employed staff include the organist and master of choristers, head Verger archivist, librarian and the staff of the shop, café and restaurant. The chapter is advised by specialists such as architects, archaeologists and financial analysts.

 

More than a thousand services are held every year. There are daily services of Matins, Holy Communion and Choral Evensong, as well as major celebrations of Christian festivals such as Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and saints' days. The cathedral is also used for the baptisms, weddings and funerals of those with close connections to it. In July 2009 the cathedral undertook the funeral of Harry Patch, the last British Army veteran of World War I, who died at the age of 111.

 

Three Sunday services are led by the resident choir in school terms and choral services are sung on weekdays. The cathedral hosts visiting choirs and does outreach work with local schools as part of its Chorister Outreach Project. It is also a venue for musical events such as an annual concert by the Somerset Chamber Choir.

 

Each year about 150,000 people attend services and another 300,000 visit as tourists. Entry is free, but visitors are encouraged to make a donation towards the annual running costs of around £1.5 million in 2015.

 

Construction of the cathedral began in about 1175, to the design of an unknown master-mason. Wells is the first cathedral in England to be built, from its foundation, in Gothic style. According to art historian John Harvey, it is the first truly Gothic cathedral in the world, its architects having entirely dispensed with all features that bound the contemporary east end of Canterbury Cathedral and the earlier buildings of France, such as the east end of the Abbey of Saint Denis, to the Romanesque. Unlike these churches, Wells has clustered piers rather than columns and has a gallery of identical pointed arches rather than the typically Romanesque form of paired openings. The style, with its simple lancet arches without tracery and convoluted mouldings, is known as Early English Gothic.

 

From about 1192 to 1230, Adam Lock, the earliest master-mason at Wells for whom a name is known, continued the transept and nave in the same manner as his predecessor. Lock was also the builder of the north porch, to his own design.

 

The Early English west front was commenced around 1230 by Thomas Norreys, with building and sculpture continuing for thirty years. Its south-west tower was begun 100 years later and constructed between 1365 and 1395, and the north-west tower between 1425 and 1435, both in the Perpendicular Gothic style to the design of William Wynford, who also filled many of the cathedral's early English lancet windows with delicate tracery.

 

The undercroft and chapter house were built by unknown architects between 1275 and 1310, the undercroft in the Early English and the chapter house in the Geometric style of Decorated Gothic architecture. In about 1310 work commenced on the Lady Chapel, to the design of Thomas Witney, who also built the central tower from 1315 to 1322 in the Decorated Gothic style. The tower was later braced internally with arches by William Joy. Concurrent with this work, in 1329–45 Joy made alterations and extensions to the choir, joining it to the Lady Chapel with the retrochoir, the latter in the Flowing Decorated style.

 

Later changes include the Perpendicular vault of the tower and construction of Sugar's Chapel, 1475–1490 by William Smyth. Also, Gothic Revival renovations were made to the choir and pulpitum by Benjamin Ferrey and Anthony Salvin, 1842–1857.

 

Wells has a total length of 415 feet (126 m). Like Canterbury, Lincoln and Salisbury cathedrals, it has the distinctly English arrangement of two transepts, with the body of the church divided into distinct parts: nave, choir, and retro-choir, beyond which extends the Lady Chapel. The façade is wide, with its towers extending beyond the transepts on either side. There is a large projecting porch on the north side of the nave forming an entry into the cathedral. To the north-east is the large octagonal chapter house, entered from the north choir aisle by a passage and staircase. To the south of the nave is a large cloister, unusual in that the northern range, that adjacent the cathedral, was never built.

 

In section, the cathedral has the usual arrangement of a large church: a central nave with an aisle on each side, separated by two arcades. The elevation is in three stages, arcade, triforium gallery and clerestory. The nave is 67 feet (20 m) in height, very low compared to the Gothic cathedrals of France. It has a markedly horizontal emphasis, caused by the triforium having a unique form, a series of identical narrow openings, lacking the usual definition of the bays. The triforium is separated from the arcade by a single horizontal string course that runs unbroken the length of the nave. There are no vertical lines linking the three stages, as the shafts supporting the vault rise above the triforium.

 

The exterior of Wells Cathedral presents a relatively tidy and harmonious appearance since the greater part of the building was executed in a single style, Early English Gothic. This is uncommon among English cathedrals where the exterior usually exhibits a plethora of styles. At Wells, later changes in the Perpendicular style were universally applied, such as filling the Early English lancet windows with simple tracery, the construction of a parapet that encircles the roof, and the addition of pinnacles framing each gable, similar to those around the chapter house and on the west front. At the eastern end there is a proliferation of tracery with repeated motifs in the Reticulated style, a stage between Geometric and Flowing Decorated tracery.

 

The west front is 100 feet (30 m) high and 147 feet (45 m) wide, and built of Inferior Oolite of the Middle Jurassic period, which came from the Doulting Stone Quarry, about 8 miles (13 km) to the east. According to the architectural historian Alec Clifton-Taylor, it is "one of the great sights of England".

 

West fronts in general take three distinct forms: those that follow the elevation of the nave and aisles, those that have paired towers at the end of each aisle, framing the nave, and those that screen the form of the building. The west front at Wells has the paired-tower form, unusual in that the towers do not indicate the location of the aisles, but extend well beyond them, screening the dimensions and profile of the building.

 

The west front rises in three distinct stages, each clearly defined by a horizontal course. This horizontal emphasis is counteracted by six strongly projecting buttresses defining the cross-sectional divisions of nave, aisles and towers, and are highly decorated, each having canopied niches containing the largest statues on the façade.

 

At the lowest level of the façade is a plain base, contrasting with and stabilising the ornate arcades that rise above it. The base is penetrated by three doors, which are in stark contrast to the often imposing portals of French Gothic cathedrals. The outer two are of domestic proportion and the central door is ornamented only by a central post, quatrefoil and the fine mouldings of the arch.

 

Above the basement rise two storeys, ornamented with quatrefoils and niches originally holding about four hundred statues, with three hundred surviving until the mid-20th century. Since then, some have been restored or replaced, including the ruined figure of Christ in the gable.

 

The third stages of the flanking towers were both built in the Perpendicular style of the late 14th century, to the design of William Wynford; that on the north-west was not begun until about 1425. The design maintains the general proportions, and continues the strong projection of the buttresses.

 

The finished product has been criticised for its lack of pinnacles, and it is probable that the towers were intended to carry spires which were never built. Despite its lack of spires or pinnacles, the architectural historian Banister Fletcher describes it as "the highest development in English Gothic of this type of façade."

 

The sculptures on the west front at Wells include standing figures, seated figures, half-length angels and narratives in high relief. Many of the figures are life-sized or larger. Together they constitute the finest display of medieval carving in England. The figures and many of the architectural details were painted in bright colours, and the colouring scheme has been deduced from flakes of paint still adhering to some surfaces. The sculptures occupy nine architectural zones stretching horizontally across the entire west front and around the sides and the eastern returns of the towers which extend beyond the aisles. The strongly projecting buttresses have tiers of niches which contain many of the largest figures. Other large figures, including that of Christ, occupy the gable. A single figure stands in one of two later niches high on the northern tower.

 

In 1851 the archaeologist Charles Robert Cockerell published his analysis of the iconography, numbering the nine sculptural divisions from the lowest to the highest. He defined the theme as "a calendar for unlearned men" illustrating the doctrines and history of the Christian faith, its introduction to Britain and its protection by princes and bishops. He likens the arrangement and iconography to the Te Deum.

 

According to Cockerell, the side of the façade that is to the south of the central door is the more sacred and the scheme is divided accordingly. The lowest range of niches each contained a standing figure, of which all but four figures on the west front, two on each side, have been destroyed. More have survived on the northern and eastern sides of the north tower. Cockerell speculates that those to the south of the portal represented prophets and patriarchs of the Old Testament while those to the north represented early missionaries to Britain, of which Augustine of Canterbury, St Birinus, and Benedict Biscop are identifiable by their attributes. In the second zone, above each pair of standing figures, is a quatrefoil containing a half-length angel in relief, some of which have survived. Between the gables of the niches are quatrefoils that contain a series of narratives from the Bible, with the Old Testament stories to the south, above the prophets and patriarchs, and those from the New Testament to the north. A horizontal course runs around the west front dividing the architectural storeys at this point.

 

Above the course, zones four and five, as identified by Cockerell, contain figures which represent the Christian Church in Britain, with the spiritual lords such as bishops, abbots, abbesses and saintly founders of monasteries on the south, while kings, queens and princes occupy the north. Many of the figures survive and many have been identified in the light of their various attributes. There is a hierarchy of size, with the more significant figures larger and enthroned in their niches rather than standing. Immediately beneath the upper course are a series of small niches containing dynamic sculptures of the dead coming forth from their tombs on the Day of Judgement. Although naked, some of the dead are defined as royalty by their crowns and others as bishops by their mitres. Some emerge from their graves with joy and hope, and others with despair.

 

The niches in the lowest zone of the gable contain nine angels, of which Cockerell identifies Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel. In the next zone are the taller figures of the twelve apostles, some, such as John, Andrew and Bartholomew, clearly identifiable by the attributes that they carry. The uppermost niches of the gable contained the figure of Christ the Judge at the centre, with the Virgin Mary on his right and John the Baptist on his left. The figures all suffered from iconoclasm. A new statue of Jesus was carved for the central niche, but the two side niches now contain cherubim. Christ and the Virgin Mary are also represented by now headless figures in a Coronation of the Virgin in a niche above the central portal. A damaged figure of the Virgin and Christ Child occupies a quatrefoil in the spandrel of the door.

 

The central tower appears to date from the early 13th century. It was substantially reconstructed in the early 14th century during the remodelling of the east end, necessitating the internal bracing of the piers a decade or so later. In the 14th century the tower was given a timber and lead spire which burnt down in 1439. The exterior was then reworked in the Perpendicular style and given the present parapet and pinnacles. Alec Clifton-Taylor describes it as "outstanding even in Somerset, a county famed for the splendour of its church towers".

 

The north porch is described by art historian Nikolaus Pevsner as "sumptuously decorated", and intended as the main entrance. Externally it is simple and rectangular with plain side walls. The entrance is a steeply arched portal framed by rich mouldings of eight shafts with stiff-leaf capitals each encircled by an annular moulding at middle height. Those on the left are figurative, containing images representing the martyrdom of St Edmund the Martyr. The walls are lined with deep niches framed by narrow shafts with capitals and annulets like those of the portal. The path to the north porch is lined by four sculptures in Purbeck stone, each by Mary Spencer Watson, representing the symbols of the Evangelists.

 

The cloisters were built in the late 13th century and largely rebuilt from 1430 to 1508 and have wide openings divided by mullions and transoms, and tracery in the Perpendicular Gothic style. The vault has lierne ribs that form octagons at the centre of each compartment, the joints of each rib having decorative bosses. The eastern range is of two storeys, of which the upper is the library built in the 15th century.

 

Because Wells Cathedral was secular rather than monastic, cloisters were not a practical necessity. They were omitted from several other secular cathedrals but were built here and at Chichester. Explanations for their construction at these two secular cathedrals range from the processional to the aesthetic. As at Chichester, there is no northern range to the cloisters. In monastic cloisters it was the north range, benefiting most from winter sunlight, that was often used as a scriptorium.

 

In 1969, when a large chunk of stone fell from a statue near the main door, it became apparent that there was an urgent need for restoration of the west front. Detailed studies of the stonework and of conservation practices were undertaken under the cathedral architect, Alban D. R. Caroe and a restoration committee formed. The methods selected were those devised by Eve and Robert Baker. W. A. (Bert) Wheeler, clerk of works to the cathedral 1935–1978, had previously experimented with washing and surface treatment of architectural carvings on the building and his techniques were among those tried on the statues.

 

The conservation was carried out between 1974 and 1986, wherever possible using non-invasive procedures such as washing with water and a solution of lime, filling gaps and damaged surfaces with soft mortar to prevent the ingress of water and stabilising statues that were fracturing through corrosion of metal dowels. The surfaces were finished by painting with a thin coat of mortar and silane to resist further erosion and attack by pollutants. The restoration of the façade revealed much paint adhering to the statues and their niches, indicating that it had once been brightly coloured.

 

The particular character of this Early English interior is dependent on the proportions of the simple lancet arches. It is also dependent on the refinement of the architectural details, in particular the mouldings.

 

The arcade, which takes the same form in the nave, choir and transepts, is distinguished by the richness of both mouldings and carvings. Each pier of the arcade has a surface enrichment of 24 slender shafts in eight groups of three, rising beyond the capitals to form the deeply undulating mouldings of the arches. The capitals themselves are remarkable for the vitality of the stylised foliage, in a style known as "stiff-leaf". The liveliness contrasts with the formality of the moulded shafts and the smooth unbroken areas of ashlar masonry in the spandrels. Each capital is different, and some contain small figures illustrating narratives.

 

The vault of the nave rises steeply in a simple quadripartite form, in harmony with the nave arcade. The eastern end of the choir was extended and the whole upper part elaborated in the second quarter of the 14th century by William Joy. The vault has a multiplicity of ribs in a net-like form, which is very different from that of the nave, and is perhaps a recreation in stone of a local type of compartmented wooden roof of which examples remain from the 15th century, including those at St Cuthbert's Church, Wells. The vaults of the aisles of the choir also have a unique pattern.

 

Until the early 14th century, the interior of the cathedral was in a unified style, but it was to undergo two significant changes, to the tower and to the eastern end. Between 1315 and 1322 the central tower was heightened and topped by a spire, which caused the piers that supported it to show signs of stress. In 1338 the mason William Joy employed an unorthodox solution by inserting low arches topped by inverted arches of similar dimensions, forming scissors-like structures. These arches brace the piers of the crossing on three sides, while the easternmost side is braced by a choir screen. The bracing arches are known as "St Andrew's Cross arches", in a reference to the patron saint of the cathedral. They have been described by Wim Swaan – rightly or wrongly – as "brutally massive" and intrusive in an otherwise restrained interior.

 

Wells Cathedral has a square east end to the choir, as is usual, and like several other cathedrals including Salisbury and Lichfield, has a lower Lady Chapel projecting at the eastern end, begun by Thomas Witney in about 1310, possibly before the chapter house was completed. The Lady Chapel seems to have begun as a free-standing structure in the form of an elongated octagon, but the plan changed and it was linked to the eastern end by extension of the choir and construction of a second transept or retrochoir east of the choir, probably by William Joy.

 

The Lady Chapel has a vault of complex and somewhat irregular pattern, as the chapel is not symmetrical about both axes. The main ribs are intersected by additional non-supporting, lierne ribs, which in this case form a star-shaped pattern at the apex of the vault. It is one of the earliest lierne vaults in England. There are five large windows, of which four are filled with fragments of medieval glass. The tracery of the windows is in the style known as Reticulated Gothic, having a pattern of a single repeated shape, in this case a trefoil, giving a "reticulate" or net-like appearance.

 

The retrochoir extends across the east end of the choir and into the east transepts. At its centre the vault is supported by a remarkable structure of angled piers. Two of these are placed as to complete the octagonal shape of the Lady Chapel, a solution described by Francis Bond as "an intuition of Genius". The piers have attached shafts of marble, and, with the vaults that they support, create a vista of great complexity from every angle. The windows of the retrochoir are in the Reticulated style like those of the Lady Chapel, but are fully Flowing Decorated in that the tracery mouldings form ogival curves.

 

The chapter house was begun in the late 13th century and built in two stages, completed about 1310. It is a two-storeyed structure with the main chamber raised on an undercroft. It is entered from a staircase which divides and turns, one branch leading through the upper storey of Chain Gate to Vicars' Close. The Decorated interior is described by Alec Clifton-Taylor as "architecturally the most beautiful in England". It is octagonal, with its ribbed vault supported on a central column. The column is surrounded by shafts of Purbeck Marble, rising to a single continuous rippling foliate capital of stylised oak leaves and acorns, quite different in character from the Early English stiff-leaf foliage. Above the moulding spring 32 ribs of strong profile, giving an effect generally likened to "a great palm tree". The windows are large with Geometric Decorated tracery that is beginning to show an elongation of form, and ogees in the lesser lights that are characteristic of Flowing Decorated tracery. The tracery lights still contain ancient glass. Beneath the windows are 51 stalls, the canopies of which are enlivened by carvings including many heads carved in a light-hearted manner.

 

Wells Cathedral contains one of the most substantial collections of medieval stained glass in England, despite damage by Parliamentary troops in 1642 and 1643. The oldest surviving glass dates from the late 13th century and is in two windows on the west side of the chapter-house staircase. Two windows in the south choir aisle are from 1310 to 1320.

 

The Lady Chapel has five windows, of which four date from 1325 to 1330 and include images of a local saint, Dunstan. The east window was restored to a semblance of its original appearance by Thomas Willement in 1845. The other windows have complete canopies, but the pictorial sections are fragmented.

 

The east window of the choir is a broad, seven-light window dating from 1340 to 1345. It depicts the Tree of Jesse (the genealogy of Christ) and demonstrates the use of silver staining, a new technique that allowed the artist to paint details on the glass in yellow, as well as black. The combination of yellow and green glass and the application of the bright yellow stain gives the window its popular name, the "Golden Window". It is flanked by two windows each side in the clerestory, with large figures of saints, also dated to 1340–45. In 2010 a major conservation programme was undertaken on the Jesse Tree window.

 

The panels in the chapel of St Katherine are attributed to Arnold of Nijmegen and date from about 1520. They were acquired from the destroyed church of Saint-Jean, Rouen, with the last panel having been purchased in 1953.

 

The large triple lancet to the nave west end was glazed at the expense of Dean Creighton at a cost of £140 in 1664. It was repaired in 1813, and the central light was largely replaced to a design by Archibald Keightley Nicholson between 1925 and 1931. The main north and south transept end windows by James Powell and Sons were erected in the early 20th century.

 

The greater part of the stone carving of Wells Cathedral comprises foliate capitals in the stiff-leaf style. They are found ornamenting the piers of the nave, choir and transepts. Stiff-leaf foliage is highly abstract. Though possibly influenced by carvings of acanthus leaves or vine leaves, it cannot be easily identified with any particular plant. Here the carving of the foliage is varied and vigorous, the springing leaves and deep undercuts casting shadows that contrast with the surface of the piers. In the transepts and towards the crossing in the nave the capitals have many small figurative carvings among the leaves. These include a man with toothache and a series of four scenes depicting the "Wages of Sin" in a narrative of fruit stealers who creep into an orchard and are then beaten by the farmer. Another well-known carving is in the north transept aisle: a foliate corbel, on which climbs a lizard, sometimes identified as a salamander, a symbol of eternal life.

 

Carvings in the Decorated Gothic style may be found in the eastern end of the buildings, where there are many carved bosses. In the chapter house, the carvings of the 51 stalls include numerous small heads of great variety, many of them smiling or laughing. A well-known figure is the corbel of the dragon-slaying monk in the chapter house stair. The large continuous capital that encircles the central pillar of the chapter house is markedly different in style to the stiff-leaf of the Early English period. In contrast to the bold projections and undercutting of the earlier work, it has a rippling form and is clearly identifiable as grapevine.

 

The 15th-century cloisters have many small bosses ornamenting the vault. Two in the west cloister, near the gift shop and café, have been called sheela na gigs, i. e. female figures displaying their genitals and variously judged to depict the sin of lust or stem from ancient fertility cults.

 

Wells Cathedral has one of the finest sets of misericords in Britain. Its clergy has a long tradition of singing or reciting from the Book of Psalms each day, along with the customary daily reading of the Holy Office. In medieval times the clergy assembled in the church eight times daily for the canonical hours. As the greater part of the services was recited while standing, many monastic or collegiate churches fitted stalls whose seats tipped up to provide a ledge for the monk or cleric to lean against. These were "misericords" because their installation was an act of mercy. Misericords typically have a carved figurative bracket beneath the ledge framed by two floral motifs known, in heraldic manner, as "supporters".

 

The misericords date from 1330 to 1340. They may have been carved under the direction of Master Carpenter John Strode, although his name is not recorded before 1341. He was assisted by Bartholomew Quarter, who is documented from 1343. They originally numbered 90, of which 65 have survived. Sixty-one are installed in the choir, three are displayed in the cathedral, and one is held by the Victoria and Albert Museum. New stalls were ordered when the eastern end of the choir was extended in the early 14th century. The canons complained that they had borne the cost of the rebuilding and ordered the prebendary clerics to pay for their own stalls. When the newly refurbished choir opened in 1339 many misericords were left unfinished, including one-fifth of the surviving 65. Many of the clerics had not paid, having been called to contribute a total sum of £200. The misericords survived better than the other sections of the stalls, which during the Protestant Reformation had their canopies chopped off and galleries inserted above them. One misericord, showing a boy pulling a thorn from his foot, dates from the 17th century. In 1848 came a complete rearrangement of the choir furniture, and 61 of the misericords were reused in the restructured stalls.

 

The subject matter of the carvings of the central brackets as misericords varies, but many themes recur in different churches. Typically the themes are less unified or directly related to the Bible and Christian theology than small sculptures seen elsewhere within churches, such as bosses. This applies at Wells, where none of the misericord carvings is directly based on a Bible story. The subjects, chosen either by the woodcarver, or perhaps by the one paying for the stall, have no overriding theme. The sole unifying elements are the roundels on each side of the pictorial subject, which all show elaborately carved foliage, in most cases formal and stylised in the later Decorated manner, but with several examples of naturalistic foliage, including roses and bindweed. Many of the subjects carry traditional interpretations. The image of the "Pelican in her Piety" (believed to feed her young on her own blood) is a recognised symbol for Christ's love for the Church. A cat playing with a mouse may represent the Devil snaring a human soul. Other subjects illustrate popular fables or sayings such as "When the fox preaches, look to your geese". Many depict animals, some of which may symbolise a human vice or virtue, or an aspect of faith.

 

Twenty-seven of the carvings depict animals: rabbits, dogs, a puppy biting a cat, a ewe feeding a lamb, monkeys, lions, bats, and the Early Christian motif of two doves drinking from a ewer. Eighteen have mythological subjects, including mermaids, dragons and wyverns. Five are clearly narrative, such as the Fox and the Geese, and the story of Alexander the Great being raised to Heaven by griffins. There are three heads: a bishop in a mitre, an angel, and a woman wearing a veil over hair arranged in coils over each ear. Eleven carvings show human figures, among which are several of remarkable design, conceived by the artist specifically for their purpose of supporting a shelf. One figure lies beneath the seat, supporting the shelf with a cheek, a hand and a foot. Another sits in a contorted manner supporting the weight on his elbow, while a further figure squats with his knees wide apart and a strained look on his face.

 

Some of the cathedral's fittings and monuments are hundreds of years old. The brass lectern in the Lady Chapel dates from 1661 and has a moulded stand and foliate crest. In the north transept chapel is a 17th-century oak screen with columns, formerly used in cow stalls, with artisan Ionic capitals and cornice, set forward over the chest tomb of John Godelee. There is a bound oak chest from the 14th century, which was used to store the chapter seal and key documents. The bishop's throne dates from 1340, and has a panelled, canted front and stone doorway, and a deep nodding cusped ogee canopy above it, with three-stepped statue niches and pinnacles. The throne was restored by Anthony Salvin around 1850. Opposite the throne is a 19th-century octagonal pulpit on a coved base with panelled sides, and steps up from the north aisle. The round font in the south transept is from the former Saxon cathedral and has an arcade of round-headed arches, on a round plinth. The font cover was made in 1635 and is decorated with the heads of putti. The Chapel of St Martin is a memorial to every Somerset man who fell in World War I.

 

The monuments and tombs include Gisa, bishop; † 1088; William of Bitton, bishop; † 1274; William of March, bishop; † 1302; John Droxford; † 1329; John Godelee; † 1333; John Middleton, died †1350; Ralph of Shrewsbury, died †; John Harewell, bishop; † 1386; William Bykonyll; † c. 1448; John Bernard; † 1459; Thomas Beckington; † died 1464; John Gunthorpe; † 1498; John Still; † 1607; Robert Creighton; † 1672; Richard Kidder, bishop; † 1703; George Hooper, bishop; † 1727 and Arthur Harvey, bishop; † 1894.

 

In the north transept is Wells Cathedral clock, an astronomical clock from about 1325 believed to be by Peter Lightfoot, a monk of Glastonbury. Its mechanism, dated between 1386 and 1392, was replaced in the 19th century and the original moved to the Science Museum in London, where it still operates. It is the second oldest surviving clock in England after the Salisbury Cathedral clock.

 

The clock has its original medieval face. Apart from the time on a 24-hour dial, it shows the motion of the Sun and Moon, the phases of the Moon, and the time since the last new Moon. The astronomical dial presents a geocentric or pre-Copernican view, with the Sun and Moon revolving round a central fixed Earth, like that of the clock at Ottery St Mary. The quarters are chimed by a quarter jack: a small automaton known as Jack Blandifers, who hits two bells with hammers and two with his heels. At the striking of the clock, jousting knights appear above the clock face.

 

On the outer wall of the transept, opposite Vicars' Hall, is a second clock face of the same clock, placed there just over seventy years after the interior clock and driven by the same mechanism. The second clock face has two quarter jacks (which strike on the quarter-hour) in the form of knights in armour.

 

In 2010 the official clock-winder retired and was replaced by an electric mechanism.

 

The first record of an organ at this church dates from 1310. A smaller organ, probably for the Lady Chapel, was installed in 1415. In 1620 an organ built by Thomas Dallam was installed at a cost of £398 1s 5d.

 

The 1620 organ was destroyed by parliamentary soldiers in 1643. An organ built in 1662 was enlarged in 1786 and again in 1855. In 1909–1910 an organ was built by Harrison & Harrison of Durham, with the best parts of the old organ retained. It has been serviced by the same company ever since.

 

Since November 1996 the cathedral has also had a portable chamber organ, by the Scottish makers, Lammermuir. It is used regularly to accompany performances of Tudor and baroque music.

 

The first recorded organist of Wells was Walter Bagele (or Vageler) in 1416. The post of organist or assistant organist has been held by more than 60 people since. Peter Stanley Lyons was Master of Choristers at Wells Cathedral, and Director of Music at Wells Cathedral School in 1954–1960. The choral conductor James William Webb-Jones, father of Lyons's wife Bridget (whom he married in the cathedral), was Headmaster of Wells Cathedral School in 1955–1960. Malcolm Archer was the appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers from 1996 to 2004. Matthew Owens was the appointed organist from 2005 to 2019.

 

There has been a choir of boy choristers at Wells since 909. Currently there are 18 boy choristers and a similar number of girl choristers, aged from eight to fourteen. The Vicars Choral was formed in the 12th century and the sung liturgy provided by a traditional cathedral choir of men and boys until the formation of an additional choir of girls in 1994. The boys and girls sing alternately with the Vicars Choral and are educated at Wells Cathedral School.

 

The Vicars Choral currently number twelve men, of whom three are choral scholars. Since 1348 the College of Vicars had its own accommodation in a quadrangle converted in the early 15th century to form Vicar's Close. The Vicars Choral generally perform with the choristers, except on Wednesdays, when they sing alone, allowing them to present a different repertoire, in particular plainsong.

 

In December 2010 Wells Cathedral Choir was rated by Gramophone magazine as "the highest ranking choir with children in the world". It continues to provide music for the liturgy at Sunday and weekday services. The choir has made many recordings and toured frequently, including performances in Beijing and Hong Kong in 2012. Its repertoire ranges from the choral music of the Renaissance to recently commissioned works.

 

The Wells Cathedral Chamber Choir is a mixed adult choir of 25 members, formed in 1986 to sing at the midnight service on Christmas Eve, and invited to sing at several other special services. It now sings for about 30 services a year, when the Cathedral Choir is in recess or on tour, and spends one week a year singing as the "choir in residence" at another cathedral. Although primarily liturgical, the choir's repertoire includes other forms of music, as well as performances at engagements such as weddings and funerals.

 

The cathedral is home to Wells Cathedral Oratorio Society (WCOS), founded in 1896. With around 160 voices, the society gives three concerts a year under the direction of Matthew Owens, Organist and Master of the Choristers at the cathedral. Concerts are normally in early November, December (an annual performance of Handel's Messiah) and late March. It performs with a number of specialist orchestras including: Music for Awhile, Chameleon Arts and La Folia.

 

The bells at Wells Cathedral are the heaviest ring of ten bells in the world, the tenor bell (the 10th and largest), known as Harewell, weighing 56.25 long hundredweight (2,858 kg). They are hung for full-circle ringing in the English style of change ringing. These bells are now hung in the south-west tower, although some were originally hung in the central tower.

 

The library above the eastern cloister was built between 1430 and 1508. Its collection is in three parts: early documents housed in the Muniment Room; the collection predating 1800 housed in the Chained Library; and the post-1800 collection housed in the Reading Room. The chapter's earlier collection was destroyed during the Reformation, so that the present library consists chiefly of early printed books, rather than medieval manuscripts. The earlier books in the Chained Library number 2,800 volumes and give an indication of the variety of interests of the members of the cathedral chapter from the Reformation until 1800. The focus of the collection is predominantly theology, but there are volumes on science, medicine, exploration, and languages. Books of particular interest include Pliny's Natural History printed in 1472, an Atlas of the World by Abraham Ortelius, printed in 1606, and a set of the works by Aristotle that once belonged to Erasmus. The library is open to the public at appointed times in the summer and presents a small exhibition of documents and books.

 

Three early registers of the Dean and Chapter edited by W. H. B. Bird for the Historical Manuscripts Commissioners – Liber Albus I (White Book; R I), Liber Albus II (R III) and Liber Ruber (Red Book; R II, section i) – were published in 1907. They contain with some repetition, a cartulary of possessions of the cathedral, with grants of land back to the 8th century, well before hereditary surnames developed in England, and acts of the Dean and Chapter and surveys of their estates, mostly in Somerset.

 

Adjacent to the cathedral is a large lawned area, Cathedral Green, with three ancient gateways: Brown's Gatehouse, Penniless Porch and Chain Gate. On the green is the 12th-century Old Deanery, largely rebuilt in the late 15th century by Dean Gunthorpe and remodelled by Dean Bathurst in the late 17th century. No longer the dean's residence, it is used as diocesan offices.

 

To the south of the cathedral is the moated Bishop's Palace, begun about 1210 by Jocelin of Wells but dating mostly from the 1230s. In the 15th century Thomas Beckington added a north wing, now the bishop's residence. It was restored and extended by Benjamin Ferrey between 1846 and 1854.

 

To the north of the cathedral and connected to it by the Chain Gate is Vicars' Close, a street planned in the 14th century and claimed to be the oldest purely residential street in Europe, with all but one of its original buildings intact. Buildings in the close include the Vicars Hall and gateway at the south end, and the Vicars Chapel and Library at the north end.

 

The Liberty of St Andrew was the historic liberty and parish that encompassed the cathedral and surrounding lands closely associated with it.

 

The English painter J. M. W. Turner visited Wells in 1795, making sketches of the precinct and a water colour of the west front, now in the Tate gallery. Other artists whose paintings of the cathedral are in national collections are Albert Goodwin, John Syer and Ken Howard.

 

The cathedral served to inspire Ken Follett's 1989 novel The Pillars of the Earth and with a modified central tower, featured as the fictional Kingsbridge Cathedral at the end of the 2010 television adaptation of that novel. The interior of the cathedral was used for a 2007 Doctor Who episode, "The Lazarus Experiment", while the exterior shots were filmed at Southwark Cathedral.

 

An account of the damage to the cathedral during the Monmouth Rebellion is included in Arthur Conan Doyle's 1889 historical novel Micah Clarke.

 

The cathedral provided scenes for the 2019–2020 television series The Spanish Princess.

Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Santes Creus

 

Monastery of Santa Maria de Santes Creus is a Cistercian monastery in the municipality of Aiguamúrcia, Catalonia, Spain.

 

The monastery's origins date to 1158, when the Lords of Montagut y de Albá donated the village of Santes Creus to the monks of Valdaura. The papal decree that was required to establish a monastery was made by Pope Alexander II, and construction of the monastery began in 1174. The complex was completed in 1225.

 

King Peter III of Aragon chose to be buried in the Monastery of Santes Creus, as did his son James II (1276–1285) and his wife, Blanche of Anjou. James II had a section of the abbey turned royal rooms, the original Romanesque cloister rebuilt in the Gothic style of the 13th century, and a dome added to the church's crossing. The walls were built under King Peter IV. From the time of Peter IV, the royal favour was transferred to the Monastery of Poblet.

 

The monastic complex continued to expand during the 17th and 18th century, until, following the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal in 1835, the Cistercians left and building activities ceased. The monastery was declared a national monument in 1921.

 

The complex, built in accordance with Cistercian principles, included a church, a cloister, chapter house and dormitory. There were also a refectory, parlor, and scriptorium (writing hall). The complex is built in honey coloured stone, and the main buildings, including the church, have rooflines finished with crenellations.

 

The church, started in 1174, was finished around 1225. It was consecrated in 1211. It has a Latin cross plan, with a nave and lower aisles of six bays. The arms of the transept, which are the same width as the nave, each end in an apsidal chapel which is barely visible from the exterior. The chancel is rectangular, ending in the presbytery. The crossing is surmounted by a dome raised on a tall octagonal drum in Gothic style, and topped by a Baroque lantern.

 

The main façade has a Romanesque portal from the 12th century, surmounted by a large Gothic stained glass window. The apse is characterized by a rose window and, below, three small ogival windows, which are now hidden behind the high altar in the interior.

 

Each bay of the interior has a quadripartite vault, between broad, slightly pointed arches rising from square piers.

 

As in many other Cistercian churches, the interior has no decoration, aside from the tombs and the altarpiece by Josep Tremulles, dating to 1640.

 

The sepulchre of King Peter III was executed from 1291 to 1307 by Bartomeu de Gerona, and looks richer than those of his son (and commissioner of the work), James II, and of the latter's wife, Blanche of Naples. It consists of an urn surrounded by the images of saints, placed over a red porphyry Roman bath brought here by admiral Roger de Lauria.

 

The mausoleum of James II and his wife Blanche was created by Bertrán Riquer in 1313-1315. The tombs are in marble, with portraits of the two monarchs, wearing Cistercian attires, lying on the two slopes of the sepulchre's top.

 

The original cloister was a Romanesque structure, dating to the late 12th-early 13th century. All that remains of the first cloister is a hexagonal central shrine, containing the laundry

 

By request of King James II, the original cloister was largely demolished and replaced by a Gothic cloister designed by the English master Reynard of Fonoll, whose work was continued by his disciple Guillem de Seguer. The style of tracery which fills the upper parts of each ogival opening in the cloister arcade varies from English Geometric to Catalan in design. The clustered columns have highly ornamented capitals with foliate, animal and human figures, as well as biblical scenes. Recesses in the walls house tombs of several Catalan noblemen, and show remains of paintings, one representing the Annunciation.

 

The cloister can be accessed from the monastery's external square through the Porta de l'Assumpta or Porta Reial ("Royal Gate"), a Romanesque portal.

 

The chapter house follows the typical design of the Cistercian monasteries, being located in the center of the cloister's eastern wing and separated from the sacristy by the end of the church's transept. The orientation of the room admits the morning light through three windows opening in the eastern wall. The entrance from the cloister is through a Romanesque portal framed on either side by a large mullioned window of equal height, the three openings forming a triple arcade. The hall has a square plan, divided into nine cross vaulted sections by four central columns.

 

The dormitory is a large (c. 46 x 11 m), undecorated hall without any partitions for the monks, who, initially slept on straw mattresses lying on the floor. The wooden rafters are supported on a series of ogival stone arches that spring from corbels in the side walls.

 

russellmoreton.blogspot.com/

 

Blackboard/Whiteboard Fragments.

 

Organism/Person/Environment.

 

Braking down research.

Radical pedagogy transduces rather than transmits.

Re-combinent poetics/praxis.

 

The Architectural Scriptorium

The Photographic Darkroom.

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Díaz_de_Vivar

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cid

 

El monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña es una abadía trapense situada en el término municipal de Castrillo del Val, a 10 km del centro de Burgos (España). Actualmente, está considerado como BIC (Bien de Interés Cultural). Fue declarado Monumento histórico-artístico perteneciente al Tesoro Artístico Nacional mediante decreto de 3 de junio de 1931. En 2015, en la aprobación por la Unesco de la ampliación del Camino de Santiago en España a «Caminos de Santiago de Compostela: Camino francés y Caminos del Norte de España», España envió como documentación un «Inventario Retrospectivo - Elementos Asociados» (Retrospective Inventory - Associated Components) en el que en el n.º 979 figura el monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña.

El monasterio se habrá fundado antes de 902 cuando el conde de Lantarón y de Cerezo, Gonzalo Téllez y su esposa Flámula realizaron la primera donación documentada al cenobio el 24 de septiembre de ese año de una serna en Pedernales y unas eras de sal.

En los siglos IX o X sus monjes fueron martirizados por los musulmanes, canonizados en 1603 y conocidos como los «Mártires de Cardeña». El monasterio gozaba de gran popularidad con gran afluencia de devotos, entre los que se encontraban el rey Felipe III de España y su esposa la reina Doña Margarita de Austria. Una de sus preciadas reliquias, la cabeza de su abad San Esteban, fue trasladada al Monasterio de Celanova; también se encuentran dos urnas en el Monasterio de la Huelgas y otra en la Catedral de Burgos.

Cada año, el 6 de agosto, aniversario del martirio, la tierra del claustro donde fueron sepultados los mártires, se teñía de un color rojizo que parecía sangre. El milagroso prodigio, ampliamente testificado, se repite hasta finales del siglo XIV. El año 1674 ya una vez levantado el nuevo claustro de estilo herreriano se reprodujo el hecho, personándose el arzobispo Enrique de Peralta, que vivamente impresionado encargó un estudio, interviniendo médicos y teólogos. Recogió el líquido, coaguló al ser puesto en agua hirviendo.

El 1 de febrero de 1967 un violento incendio destruyó las tres cuartas partes del monasterio, habitado desde 1942 por la abadía trapense de Nuestra Señora de los Mártires.

La prosperidad del monasterio en la época altomedieval se refleja en la calidad de su scriptorium, en el que el monje Endura realizó obras extraordinarias.

El Beato de San Pedro de Cardeña fue realizado entre los años 1175 y 1180, cuenta con 290 páginas y 51 miniaturas. 127 folios se encuentran en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional de Madrid, dos en la Biblioteca Francisco de Zabálburu, también en Madrid (donde también se halla el Cartulario de San Pedro de Cardeña), uno en el Museo Diocesano de Gerona y otros quince en el Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York.

Desde la sala capitular, que data del siglo XIII, se divisa a través de grandes cristaleras el claustro románico, que data del siglo XII. Compuesto por arquería de medio punto sobre columnas únicas que descansan sobre fustes robustos y coronadas de capiteles que imitan el estilo corintio. Los arcos recuerdan en su decoración a los de la mezquita de Córdoba por su policromía, alternando los colores blanco y rojo. En la pared izquierda se encuentran unas antiquísimas piedras cuya inscripción recuerda el trágico suceso.

Para construir esta iglesia de tres naves se destruyó la románica, aunque afortunadamente se salvó la torre, legítimo recuerdo cidiano. Reedificada en el siglo XVI, consta de tres naves, con una capilla aneja, denominada capilla de El Cid, ya que allí fue enterrado, y permaneció antes de su traslado a la catedral de Burgos. La fachada de la iglesia es de estilo barroco.

En el lateral derecho de la iglesia gótica, se abre una capilla barroca que data de 1753 a la que fueron trasladados los restos del Cid Campeador y su esposa Jimena. En las paredes de esta estancia llamada «Capilla de los Héroes», hay 29 nichos con inscripciones de nombres de reyes y familiares del Cid.

Según el Cantar de mio Cid y las tradiciones posteriores, antes de marchar al destierro, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar dejó en San Pedro de Cardeña, al amparo del abad Sancho (que la crítica ha identificado con Sisebuto de Cardeña atribuyendo una confusión al autor del Cantar), a su esposa Doña Jimena y a sus hijas, aunque este hecho no está atestiguado por pruebas históricas. En el primer destierro de 1081, las propiedades de Rodrigo Díaz no le fueron enajenadas, y la familia del Cid pudo seguir residiendo en sus casas. En el segundo, de 1089, la familia fue presa por mandato de Alfonso VI en un castillo, quizá Gormaz, para reunirse con el Campeador poco después.

El enterramiento del Cid en San Pedro de Cardeña no fue debido a la voluntad personal de Rodrigo Díaz. A su muerte en 1099 fue inhumado en la catedral de Valencia, por lo que solo en 1102, tras tener que abandonar Jimena Díaz la plaza levantina, fueron trasladados sus restos al cenobio cardeniense. Allí permaneció durante algunos años su cuerpo embalsamado y sentado en un escaño del presbiterio. Desde ese momento se generaron allí una serie de narraciones de carácter hagiográfico que hacia 1280 constituyeron un corpus conocido como Leyenda de Cardeña cuyo propósito fue vincular al Cid con el monasterio de Cardeña, con el que en vida había tenido escasa relación. Estos materiales legendarios se incorporaron a la Versión sanchina de la Estoria de España o Crónica de veinte reyes, que puede datarse entre 1282 y 1284. En el siglo XIV el monasterio caradignense estimuló el culto a las reliquias cidianas, en cuyo contexto se redactó el Epitafio épico del Cid y, posiblemente, se encargara o elaborara, a partir de un ejemplar tomado en préstamo, el códice con la copia de 1325–1330 en el que se conserva el Cantar de mio Cid. En el claustro nuevo una lápida recuerda el lugar que ocupaba su sepulcro.

En la explanada situada frente a la fachada principal, en la que aparece una imagen ecuestre del Cid Campeador, hay una estatua del Sagrado Corazón, y a la izquierda un monolito con leyenda alusiva al caballo Babieca. Coincide con el lugar donde una creencia tradicional considera que fue sepultado el animal.

En el monasterio se conserva la bodega románica más antigua de España en uso comercial, donde se elabora el tinto Valdevegón con uva de La Rioja. Y también un licor llamado Tizona del Cid, hecho con unas 30 hierbas que maceran en barricas de roble. En 2016 se convierte en el primer monasterio español en producir cerveza trapense, la cerveza Cardeña.

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monasterio_de_San_Pedro_de_Cardeña

 

monasteriosanpedrodecardena.blogspot.com

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyenda_de_Cardeña

 

en.caminodelcid.org/places/monastery-of-san-pedro-de-card...

 

Cerveza Cardeña - Monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña (valdevegon.com)

 

The monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña is a Trappist abbey located in the municipality of Castrillo del Val, 10 km from the center of Burgos (Spain). Currently, it is considered as BIC (Asset of Cultural Interest). It was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument belonging to the National Artistic Treasure by decree of June 3, 1931. In 2015, in the approval by Unesco of the extension of the Camino de Santiago in Spain to «Roads of Santiago de Compostela: French Way and Roads Northern Spain ", Spain sent as documentation a" Retrospective Inventory - Associated Components "in which the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña is listed in No. 979.

The monastery will have been founded before 902 when the count of Lantarón and Cerezo, Gonzalo Téllez and his wife, Flámula, made the first documented donation to the monastery on September 24 of that year of a serna in Pedernales and some salt eras.

In the 9th or 10th centuries its monks were martyred by the Muslims, canonized in 1603 and known as the "Martyrs of Cardeña." The monastery enjoyed great popularity with a large influx of devotees, among whom were King Felipe III of Spain and his wife, Queen Doña Margarita of Austria. One of his precious relics, the head of his abbot San Esteban, was transferred to the Monastery of Celanova; There are also two urns in the Monastery of La Huelgas and another in the Cathedral of Burgos.

Every year, on August 6, the anniversary of the martyrdom, the ground of the cloister where the martyrs were buried was stained a reddish color that looked like blood. The miraculous prodigy, widely witnessed, is repeated until the end of the fourteenth century. In 1674, once the new Herrerian-style cloister was erected, the event was reproduced, with the appearance of Archbishop Enrique de Peralta, who, greatly impressed, commissioned a study, involving doctors and theologians. He collected the liquid, it coagulated when put in boiling water.

On February 1, 1967, a violent fire destroyed three-quarters of the monastery, inhabited since 1942 by the Trappist Abbey of Our Lady of the Martyrs.

The prosperity of the monastery in the high medieval era is reflected in the quality of its scriptorium, in which the monk Endura carried out extraordinary works.

The Beatus of San Pedro de Cardeña was made between the years 1175 and 1180, it has 290 pages and 51 miniatures. 127 pages are in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid, two in the Francisco de Zabálburu Library, also in Madrid (where the Cartulary of San Pedro de Cardeña is also found), one in the Diocesan Museum of Gerona and another fifteen in the Museum Metropolitan of Art of New York.

From the chapter house, which dates from the 13th century, you can see through large windows the Romanesque cloister, which dates from the 12th century. Composed of semicircular arches on unique columns that rest on robust shafts and crowned with capitals that imitate the Corinthian style. The arches in their decoration are reminiscent of those of the Cordoba mosque due to their polychrome, alternating white and red colors. On the left wall are some ancient stones whose inscription recalls the tragic event.

To build this church with three naves, the Romanesque was destroyed, although fortunately the tower, a legitimate Cidian memory, was saved. Rebuilt in the 16th century, it consists of three naves, with an attached chapel, called the El Cid Chapel, since he was buried there, and remained before his transfer to the Burgos Cathedral. The facade of the church is in the Baroque style.

On the right side of the Gothic church, there is a baroque chapel dating from 1753 to which the remains of the Cid Campeador and his wife Jimena were transferred. On the walls of this room called "Capilla de los Héroes", there are 29 niches with inscriptions of the names of kings and relatives of the Cid.

According to the Cantar de mio Cid and later traditions, before going into exile, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar left in San Pedro de Cardeña, under the protection of Abbot Sancho (who the critic has identified with Sisebuto de Cardeña attributing a confusion to the author of the Cantar ), his wife Doña Jimena and their daughters, although this fact is not attested by historical evidence. In the first exile in 1081, Rodrigo Díaz's properties were not alienated from him, and the Cid family was able to continue residing in his houses. In the second, in 1089, the family was imprisoned by order of Alfonso VI in a castle, perhaps Gormaz, to meet with the Campeador shortly after.

The burial of the Cid in San Pedro de Cardeña was not due to the personal will of Rodrigo Díaz. Upon his death in 1099 he was buried in the cathedral of Valencia, so that only in 1102, after Jimena Díaz had to leave the Levantine square, were his remains transferred to the Cardenian monastery. His body remained there for some years, embalmed and seated on a bench in the presbytery. From that moment on, a series of hagiographic narratives were generated there, which around 1280 constituted a corpus known as the Leyenda de Cardeña whose purpose was to link the Cid with the Cardeña monastery, with which in life he had had little relationship. These legendary materials were incorporated into the Sanchina Version of the Estoria de España or Chronicle of Twenty Kings, which can be dated between 1282 and 1284. In the 14th century, the Caradignense monastery stimulated the cult of Cidian relics, in which context the Epitaph was written. epic of the Cid and, possibly, the codex with the copy of 1325–1330 in which the Cantar de mio Cid is preserved, was commissioned or elaborated from a borrowed copy. In the new cloister a tombstone recalls the place occupied by his tomb.

On the esplanade in front of the main façade, in which an equestrian image of the Cid Campeador appears, there is a statue of the Sacred Heart, and on the left a monolith with a legend alluding to the Babieca horse. It coincides with the place where a traditional belief considers that the animal was buried.

The monastery houses the oldest Romanesque winery in Spain in commercial use, where the red Valdevegón is made with grapes from La Rioja. And also a liqueur called Tizona del Cid, made with about 30 herbs that are macerated in oak barrels. In 2016 it became the first Spanish monastery to produce Trappist beer, Cardeña beer.

 

Pan de toit côté Nord de la nef - Décor à maillage latéral à trame losangée nouée (deux types d'entrelacs)

Le bâtiment monastique (salle capitulaire, scriptorium, réfectoire et cellules) abrite aujourd'hui le Musée Archéologique.

Au premier plan, sarcophages de l'époque mérovingienne.

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Díaz_de_Vivar

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cid

 

El monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña es una abadía trapense situada en el término municipal de Castrillo del Val, a 10 km del centro de Burgos (España). Actualmente, está considerado como BIC (Bien de Interés Cultural). Fue declarado Monumento histórico-artístico perteneciente al Tesoro Artístico Nacional mediante decreto de 3 de junio de 1931. En 2015, en la aprobación por la Unesco de la ampliación del Camino de Santiago en España a «Caminos de Santiago de Compostela: Camino francés y Caminos del Norte de España», España envió como documentación un «Inventario Retrospectivo - Elementos Asociados» (Retrospective Inventory - Associated Components) en el que en el n.º 979 figura el monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña.

El monasterio se habrá fundado antes de 902 cuando el conde de Lantarón y de Cerezo, Gonzalo Téllez y su esposa Flámula realizaron la primera donación documentada al cenobio el 24 de septiembre de ese año de una serna en Pedernales y unas eras de sal.

En los siglos IX o X sus monjes fueron martirizados por los musulmanes, canonizados en 1603 y conocidos como los «Mártires de Cardeña». El monasterio gozaba de gran popularidad con gran afluencia de devotos, entre los que se encontraban el rey Felipe III de España y su esposa la reina Doña Margarita de Austria. Una de sus preciadas reliquias, la cabeza de su abad San Esteban, fue trasladada al Monasterio de Celanova; también se encuentran dos urnas en el Monasterio de la Huelgas y otra en la Catedral de Burgos.

Cada año, el 6 de agosto, aniversario del martirio, la tierra del claustro donde fueron sepultados los mártires, se teñía de un color rojizo que parecía sangre. El milagroso prodigio, ampliamente testificado, se repite hasta finales del siglo XIV. El año 1674 ya una vez levantado el nuevo claustro de estilo herreriano se reprodujo el hecho, personándose el arzobispo Enrique de Peralta, que vivamente impresionado encargó un estudio, interviniendo médicos y teólogos. Recogió el líquido, coaguló al ser puesto en agua hirviendo.

El 1 de febrero de 1967 un violento incendio destruyó las tres cuartas partes del monasterio, habitado desde 1942 por la abadía trapense de Nuestra Señora de los Mártires.

La prosperidad del monasterio en la época altomedieval se refleja en la calidad de su scriptorium, en el que el monje Endura realizó obras extraordinarias.

El Beato de San Pedro de Cardeña fue realizado entre los años 1175 y 1180, cuenta con 290 páginas y 51 miniaturas. 127 folios se encuentran en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional de Madrid, dos en la Biblioteca Francisco de Zabálburu, también en Madrid (donde también se halla el Cartulario de San Pedro de Cardeña), uno en el Museo Diocesano de Gerona y otros quince en el Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York.

Desde la sala capitular, que data del siglo XIII, se divisa a través de grandes cristaleras el claustro románico, que data del siglo XII. Compuesto por arquería de medio punto sobre columnas únicas que descansan sobre fustes robustos y coronadas de capiteles que imitan el estilo corintio. Los arcos recuerdan en su decoración a los de la mezquita de Córdoba por su policromía, alternando los colores blanco y rojo. En la pared izquierda se encuentran unas antiquísimas piedras cuya inscripción recuerda el trágico suceso.

Para construir esta iglesia de tres naves se destruyó la románica, aunque afortunadamente se salvó la torre, legítimo recuerdo cidiano. Reedificada en el siglo XVI, consta de tres naves, con una capilla aneja, denominada capilla de El Cid, ya que allí fue enterrado, y permaneció antes de su traslado a la catedral de Burgos. La fachada de la iglesia es de estilo barroco.

En el lateral derecho de la iglesia gótica, se abre una capilla barroca que data de 1753 a la que fueron trasladados los restos del Cid Campeador y su esposa Jimena. En las paredes de esta estancia llamada «Capilla de los Héroes», hay 29 nichos con inscripciones de nombres de reyes y familiares del Cid.

Según el Cantar de mio Cid y las tradiciones posteriores, antes de marchar al destierro, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar dejó en San Pedro de Cardeña, al amparo del abad Sancho (que la crítica ha identificado con Sisebuto de Cardeña atribuyendo una confusión al autor del Cantar), a su esposa Doña Jimena y a sus hijas, aunque este hecho no está atestiguado por pruebas históricas. En el primer destierro de 1081, las propiedades de Rodrigo Díaz no le fueron enajenadas, y la familia del Cid pudo seguir residiendo en sus casas. En el segundo, de 1089, la familia fue presa por mandato de Alfonso VI en un castillo, quizá Gormaz, para reunirse con el Campeador poco después.

El enterramiento del Cid en San Pedro de Cardeña no fue debido a la voluntad personal de Rodrigo Díaz. A su muerte en 1099 fue inhumado en la catedral de Valencia, por lo que solo en 1102, tras tener que abandonar Jimena Díaz la plaza levantina, fueron trasladados sus restos al cenobio cardeniense. Allí permaneció durante algunos años su cuerpo embalsamado y sentado en un escaño del presbiterio. Desde ese momento se generaron allí una serie de narraciones de carácter hagiográfico que hacia 1280 constituyeron un corpus conocido como Leyenda de Cardeña cuyo propósito fue vincular al Cid con el monasterio de Cardeña, con el que en vida había tenido escasa relación. Estos materiales legendarios se incorporaron a la Versión sanchina de la Estoria de España o Crónica de veinte reyes, que puede datarse entre 1282 y 1284. En el siglo XIV el monasterio caradignense estimuló el culto a las reliquias cidianas, en cuyo contexto se redactó el Epitafio épico del Cid y, posiblemente, se encargara o elaborara, a partir de un ejemplar tomado en préstamo, el códice con la copia de 1325–1330 en el que se conserva el Cantar de mio Cid. En el claustro nuevo una lápida recuerda el lugar que ocupaba su sepulcro.

En la explanada situada frente a la fachada principal, en la que aparece una imagen ecuestre del Cid Campeador, hay una estatua del Sagrado Corazón, y a la izquierda un monolito con leyenda alusiva al caballo Babieca. Coincide con el lugar donde una creencia tradicional considera que fue sepultado el animal.

En el monasterio se conserva la bodega románica más antigua de España en uso comercial, donde se elabora el tinto Valdevegón con uva de La Rioja. Y también un licor llamado Tizona del Cid, hecho con unas 30 hierbas que maceran en barricas de roble. En 2016 se convierte en el primer monasterio español en producir cerveza trapense, la cerveza Cardeña.

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monasterio_de_San_Pedro_de_Cardeña

 

monasteriosanpedrodecardena.blogspot.com

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyenda_de_Cardeña

 

en.caminodelcid.org/places/monastery-of-san-pedro-de-card...

 

Cerveza Cardeña - Monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña (valdevegon.com)

 

The monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña is a Trappist abbey located in the municipality of Castrillo del Val, 10 km from the center of Burgos (Spain). Currently, it is considered as BIC (Asset of Cultural Interest). It was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument belonging to the National Artistic Treasure by decree of June 3, 1931. In 2015, in the approval by Unesco of the extension of the Camino de Santiago in Spain to «Roads of Santiago de Compostela: French Way and Roads Northern Spain ", Spain sent as documentation a" Retrospective Inventory - Associated Components "in which the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña is listed in No. 979.

The monastery will have been founded before 902 when the count of Lantarón and Cerezo, Gonzalo Téllez and his wife, Flámula, made the first documented donation to the monastery on September 24 of that year of a serna in Pedernales and some salt eras.

In the 9th or 10th centuries its monks were martyred by the Muslims, canonized in 1603 and known as the "Martyrs of Cardeña." The monastery enjoyed great popularity with a large influx of devotees, among whom were King Felipe III of Spain and his wife, Queen Doña Margarita of Austria. One of his precious relics, the head of his abbot San Esteban, was transferred to the Monastery of Celanova; There are also two urns in the Monastery of La Huelgas and another in the Cathedral of Burgos.

Every year, on August 6, the anniversary of the martyrdom, the ground of the cloister where the martyrs were buried was stained a reddish color that looked like blood. The miraculous prodigy, widely witnessed, is repeated until the end of the fourteenth century. In 1674, once the new Herrerian-style cloister was erected, the event was reproduced, with the appearance of Archbishop Enrique de Peralta, who, greatly impressed, commissioned a study, involving doctors and theologians. He collected the liquid, it coagulated when put in boiling water.

On February 1, 1967, a violent fire destroyed three-quarters of the monastery, inhabited since 1942 by the Trappist Abbey of Our Lady of the Martyrs.

The prosperity of the monastery in the high medieval era is reflected in the quality of its scriptorium, in which the monk Endura carried out extraordinary works.

The Beatus of San Pedro de Cardeña was made between the years 1175 and 1180, it has 290 pages and 51 miniatures. 127 pages are in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid, two in the Francisco de Zabálburu Library, also in Madrid (where the Cartulary of San Pedro de Cardeña is also found), one in the Diocesan Museum of Gerona and another fifteen in the Museum Metropolitan of Art of New York.

From the chapter house, which dates from the 13th century, you can see through large windows the Romanesque cloister, which dates from the 12th century. Composed of semicircular arches on unique columns that rest on robust shafts and crowned with capitals that imitate the Corinthian style. The arches in their decoration are reminiscent of those of the Cordoba mosque due to their polychrome, alternating white and red colors. On the left wall are some ancient stones whose inscription recalls the tragic event.

To build this church with three naves, the Romanesque was destroyed, although fortunately the tower, a legitimate Cidian memory, was saved. Rebuilt in the 16th century, it consists of three naves, with an attached chapel, called the El Cid Chapel, since he was buried there, and remained before his transfer to the Burgos Cathedral. The facade of the church is in the Baroque style.

On the right side of the Gothic church, there is a baroque chapel dating from 1753 to which the remains of the Cid Campeador and his wife Jimena were transferred. On the walls of this room called "Capilla de los Héroes", there are 29 niches with inscriptions of the names of kings and relatives of the Cid.

According to the Cantar de mio Cid and later traditions, before going into exile, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar left in San Pedro de Cardeña, under the protection of Abbot Sancho (who the critic has identified with Sisebuto de Cardeña attributing a confusion to the author of the Cantar ), his wife Doña Jimena and their daughters, although this fact is not attested by historical evidence. In the first exile in 1081, Rodrigo Díaz's properties were not alienated from him, and the Cid family was able to continue residing in his houses. In the second, in 1089, the family was imprisoned by order of Alfonso VI in a castle, perhaps Gormaz, to meet with the Campeador shortly after.

The burial of the Cid in San Pedro de Cardeña was not due to the personal will of Rodrigo Díaz. Upon his death in 1099 he was buried in the cathedral of Valencia, so that only in 1102, after Jimena Díaz had to leave the Levantine square, were his remains transferred to the Cardenian monastery. His body remained there for some years, embalmed and seated on a bench in the presbytery. From that moment on, a series of hagiographic narratives were generated there, which around 1280 constituted a corpus known as the Leyenda de Cardeña whose purpose was to link the Cid with the Cardeña monastery, with which in life he had had little relationship. These legendary materials were incorporated into the Sanchina Version of the Estoria de España or Chronicle of Twenty Kings, which can be dated between 1282 and 1284. In the 14th century, the Caradignense monastery stimulated the cult of Cidian relics, in which context the Epitaph was written. epic of the Cid and, possibly, the codex with the copy of 1325–1330 in which the Cantar de mio Cid is preserved, was commissioned or elaborated from a borrowed copy. In the new cloister a tombstone recalls the place occupied by his tomb.

On the esplanade in front of the main façade, in which an equestrian image of the Cid Campeador appears, there is a statue of the Sacred Heart, and on the left a monolith with a legend alluding to the Babieca horse. It coincides with the place where a traditional belief considers that the animal was buried.

The monastery houses the oldest Romanesque winery in Spain in commercial use, where the red Valdevegón is made with grapes from La Rioja. And also a liqueur called Tizona del Cid, made with about 30 herbs that are macerated in oak barrels. In 2016 it became the first Spanish monastery to produce Trappist beer, Cardeña beer.

 

La Abadía de Saint-Germain-des-Prés fue la más prestigiosa y antigua abadía benedictina de París, Francia, situada en el barrio de Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Albergó un importante scriptorium en el siglo XI y fue un centro de la vida intelectual y de la Iglesia Católica francesa hasta que fue disuelta durante la Revolución. La iglesia se mantiene como la Église de Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Fue fundada por el rey merovingio Childeberto I para glorificar y santificar una reliquia de San Vicente Mártir, su túnica, traída desde Zaragoza. En 542, mientras Childelberto mantenía en sitio la ciudad de Zaragoza, oyó que sus habitantes habían colocado la ciudad bajo la protección de San Vicente Mártir. Los francos levantaron el asedio y, en agradecimiento, el obispo de Zaragoza les hizo entrega de una túnica del santo. Cuando Childelberto regresó a París, construyó la iglesia para albergar la reliquia, dedicándola a la Santa Cruz y San Vicente Mártir. Es considerada por los historiadores como el edificio religioso más antiguo de París.

 

Durante el periodo merovingio fueron enterrados en ella el propio Childelberto, Chilperico I (584) y Clotario II (628). Los cuerpos, cubiertos por un sudario o las ropas del rey, fueron colocados en tumbas ubicadas en el coro, por lo que la abadía de Saint-Germain-des-Près fue la primera necrópolis real de Francia, anterior a la abadía de Saint-Denis

Después de la iglesia se erigió el monasterio benedictino formando un conjunto, atribuyéndose a sus abades la jurisdicción del área de Saint-Germain. El proyecto lo llevó a término Pierre de Montereau. Fue entonces cuando tomó su nombre del obispo de París, Germain (496-576), un ex monje de la Abadía de Saint-Symphorien de Saint Pantaleon, que participó en su fundación y administración. La iglesia fue frecuentemente saqueada e incendiada por los normandos en el siglo IX. Se reconstruyo buena parte de ella en 1014 y fue dedicada al rey Childelberto, el monje Germain (ya canonizado) y el papa Alejandro III.

Durante el reinado de Felipe II la abadía sufrió una pérdida de prestigio debido a que quedó ubicada fuera de los muros que se construyeron para proteger la ciudad. De esta época data la construcción de la torre, que también ofrecía posibilidades defensivas, y de la nave central (siglos XI y XII). La torre se derrumbó en 1604 y fue reconstruida en el estilo clásico que se puede obervar en la actualidad.

En el siglo XVIII sufrió una explosión fortuita que afectó al claustro y un incendio en 1794 destruyó la importante biblioteca. Con la Revolución francesa la abadía fue disuelta. En el edificio actual subsisten la iglesia y el palacio abacial.

 

The Church of St. Francis of Assisi at Vilnius, Lithuania.

 

From signage in the church:

 

Between 1764 and 1781 the church was fitted with an ensemble of late Baroque fixtures: the pulpit, confessionals, pews and eleven altars. The ensemble displayed stylistic harmony, as well as a singleness of purpose-drawing attention to the main altar.

 

[The main altar] now contains the Crucifix that had previously hung above the altar of the Holy Cross. The cross was known to bestow special grace, and it was at this time that the fresco depicting this Crucifix was painted on the façade of the church. The identity of the person who designed the new interior furnishings is not now known. The interior was executed by several joiners (Giotto, Holtzas, Valteris and others are mentioned). Paintings for the altars were done by . . . a person with the surname Motiejus.

 

Between 1764 and 1768 Mikaloju Jansonas, a renowned organ builder of the day, restored the church organ and moved it from the side nave to a platform constructed at the back of the presbytery (choir). (At the end of the 19th century the organ was reconstructed once again and moved to the old balcony of the Bernardines.)

 

From the middle of the 18th century until the end of the 20th century the architecture and furnishings of the church remained largely unchanged. When the church was closed during the Soviet years, the painting over the altar, the liturgical vessels and other fixtures were scattered among museum collections or given to other churches.

 

The altar ensemble, which was disassembled for reconstruction has only been partially restored. In response to present-day liturgical requirements, a new altar created by Rimas Skakalauakas was constructed in 1998 and placed in the central nave of the church. The altar echoes the lines and shapes of the old Gothic belfry.

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From Wikipedia:

 

The Church of St. Francis and St. Bernard (also known as Bernardine Church) is a Roman Catholic church in the Old Town of Vilnius, Lithuania. It is located next to St. Anne's Church. Dedicated to Saints Francis of Assisi and Bernardino of Siena, it is an important example of Gothic architecture in Lithuania.

 

History

After their arrival in Vilnius, Bernardine monks built a wooden church in the second half of the 15th century, and at the end of the same century - a brick one.

 

In the early 16th century it was reconstructed, apparently with the participation of a master from Gdansk (Danzig) Michael Enkinger.

 

In the beginning of the 16th century the church was incorporated into the construction of Vilnius defensive wall, so there are shooting openings in its walls.

 

Afterwards it was renewed many times, particularly after the 1655-61 war with Moscow, when the Cossacks ravaged the church killing the monks and citizens who had taken shelter there.

 

In the times of the Soviet occupation it was closed down and handed over to the Art institute.

 

In 1994, the brethren of St. Francis returned to the church.

 

Church and Monastery are some of the largest sacral buildings in Vilnius, although in the 17th and 18th centuries they acquired the Renaissance and Baroque features.

 

Being much larger and more archaic than the St. Anne's Church, it forms and interesting and unique ensemble with the latter.

 

Gothic pointed-arch windows and buttresses stand out on the façade. Above them rises a pediment with twin octagonal towers on the sides and a fresco depicting the Crucifix in the middle niche.

 

A Gothic presbytery is the oldest part of the church. Eight high pillars divide the church interior into 3 naves.

 

There are many valuable 16th-century wall paintings in Bernardine church and the oldest known artistic Lithuanian crucifix sculpture from the 15th century. [2]

 

The walls of the naves are decorated with Gothic polychrome frescoes, partly uncovered in 1981 - dynamic, colourful figural compositions on biblical and hagiographic themes, with occasional inscriptions in Gothic characters, floral ornaments, heraldic insignia etc.

 

These mural paintings date from the early 16th century and are considered unique in the world: their composition and type of presentation of the subject matter belongs to Renaissance, and the stylistics - to the Gothic style. [3]

 

The Bernardine monastery north of the church, built simultaneously with the church, was renovated and reconstructed several times. Since its founding, a novitiate and a seminary operated at the monastery, a rich library had been accumulated, and a scriptorium operated. There [were] artists, craftsmen and organists among the monks. The monastery was closed in 1864, and the building housed soldiers' barracks. In 1919 it was given to the art faculty of the university, later - to the Art Institute (now the Art Academy).

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St._Francis_and_St._Berna...

 

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. According to traditions dating back to the 4th century, it contains the two holiest sites in Christianity: the site where Jesus was crucified, at a place known as Calvary or Golgotha, and Jesus's empty tomb, where he is believed by Christians to have been buried and resurrected. Each time the church was rebuilt, some of the antiquities from the preceding structure were used in the newer renovation. The tomb itself is enclosed by a 19th-century shrine called the Aedicule. The Status Quo, an understanding between religious communities dating to 1757, applies to the site.

 

Within the church proper are the last four stations of the Cross of the Via Dolorosa, representing the final episodes of the Passion of Jesus. The church has been a major Christian pilgrimage destination since its creation in the 4th century, as the traditional site of the resurrection of Christ, thus its original Greek name, Church of the Anastasis ('Resurrection').

 

Control of the church itself is shared, a simultaneum, among several Christian denominations and secular entities in complicated arrangements essentially unchanged for over 160 years, and some for much longer. The main denominations sharing property over parts of the church are the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic, and to a lesser degree the Coptic, Syriac, and Ethiopian Orthodox churches.

 

Following the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 during the First Jewish–Roman War, Jerusalem had been reduced to ruins. In AD 130, the Roman emperor Hadrian began the building of a Roman colony, the new city of Aelia Capitolina, on the site. Circa AD 135, he ordered that a cave containing a rock-cut tomb be filled in to create a flat foundation for a temple dedicated to Jupiter or Venus. The temple remained until the early 4th century.

 

After allegedly seeing a vision of a cross in the sky in 312, Constantine the Great began to favor Christianity, signed the Edict of Milan legalising the religion, and sent his mother, Helena, to Jerusalem to look for Christ's tomb. With the help of Bishop of Caesarea Eusebius and Bishop of Jerusalem Macarius, three crosses were found near a tomb; one which allegedly cured people of death was presumed to be the True Cross Jesus was crucified on, leading the Romans to believe that they had found Calvary. Constantine ordered in about 326 that the temple to Jupiter/Venus be replaced by a church. After the temple was torn down and its ruins removed, the soil was removed from the cave, revealing a rock-cut tomb that Helena and Macarius identified as the burial site of Jesus. A shrine was built, enclosing the rock tomb walls within its own.

 

In 327, Constantine and Helena separately commissioned the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to commemorate the birth of Jesus.

 

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, planned by the architect Zenobius, was built as separate constructs over the two holy sites: a rotunda called the Anastasis ("Resurrection"), where Helena and Macarius believed Jesus to have been buried, and across a courtyard to the east, the great basilica, an enclosed colonnaded atrium (the Triportico, sometimes called the Martyrium) with the traditional site of Calvary in one corner. The church was consecrated on 13 September 335. The Church Of The Holy Sepulchre site has been recognized since early in the 4th century as the place where Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead.

 

This building was destroyed by a fire in May of AD 614, when the Sassanid Empire, under Khosrau II, invaded Jerusalem and captured the True Cross. In 630, the Emperor Heraclius rebuilt the church after recapturing the city. After Jerusalem came under Islamic rule, it remained a Christian church, with the early Muslim rulers protecting the city's Christian sites, prohibiting their destruction or use as living quarters. A story reports that the caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab visited the church and stopped to pray on the balcony, but at the time of prayer, turned away from the church and prayed outside. He feared that future generations would misinterpret this gesture, taking it as a pretext to turn the church into a mosque. Eutychius of Alexandria adds that Umar wrote a decree saying that Muslims would not inhabit this location. The building suffered severe damage from an earthquake in 746.

 

Early in the 9th century, another earthquake damaged the dome of the Anastasis. The damage was repaired in 810 by Patriarch Thomas I. In 841, the church suffered a fire. In 935, the Christians prevented the construction of a Muslim mosque adjacent to the Church. In 938, a new fire damaged the inside of the basilica and came close to the rotunda. In 966, due to a defeat of Muslim armies in the region of Syria, a riot broke out, which was followed by reprisals. The basilica was burned again. The doors and roof were burnt, and Patriarch John VII was murdered.

 

On 18 October 1009, Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ordered the complete destruction of the church as part of a more general campaign against Christian places of worship in Palestine and Egypt. The damage was extensive, with few parts of the early church remaining, and the roof of the rock-cut tomb damaged; the original shrine was destroyed. Some partial repairs followed. Christian Europe reacted with shock and expulsions of Jews, serving as an impetus to later Crusades.

 

In wide-ranging negotiations between the Fatimids and the Byzantine Empire in 1027–28, an agreement was reached whereby the new Caliph Ali az-Zahir (al-Hakim's son) agreed to allow the rebuilding and redecoration of the church. The rebuilding was finally completed during the tenures of Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos and Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople in 1048. As a concession, the mosque in Constantinople was reopened and the khutba sermons were to be pronounced in az-Zahir's name. Muslim sources say a by-product of the agreement was the renunciation of Islam by many Christians who had been forced to convert under al-Hakim's persecutions. In addition, the Byzantines, while releasing 5,000 Muslim prisoners, made demands for the restoration of other churches destroyed by al-Hakim and the reestablishment of a patriarch in Jerusalem. Contemporary sources credit the emperor with spending vast sums in an effort to restore the Church of the Holy Sepulchre after this agreement was made. Still, "a total replacement was far beyond available resources. The new construction was concentrated on the rotunda and its surrounding buildings: the great basilica remained in ruins."

 

The rebuilt church site consisted of "a court open to the sky, with five small chapels attached to it." The chapels were east of the court of resurrection (when reconstructed, the location of the tomb was under open sky), where the western wall of the great basilica had been. They commemorated scenes from the passion, such as the location of the prison of Christ and his flagellation, and presumably were so placed because of the difficulties of free movement among shrines in the city streets. The dedication of these chapels indicates the importance of the pilgrims' devotion to the suffering of Christ. They have been described as 'a sort of Via Dolorosa in miniature'... since little or no rebuilding took place on the site of the great basilica. Western pilgrims to Jerusalem during the 11th century found much of the sacred site in ruins." Control of Jerusalem, and thereby the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, continued to change hands several times between the Fatimids and the Seljuk Turks (loyal to the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad) until the Crusaders' arrival in 1099.

 

Many historians maintain that the main concern of Pope Urban II, when calling for the First Crusade, was the threat to Constantinople from the Turkish invasion of Asia Minor in response to the appeal of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Historians agree that the fate of Jerusalem and thereby the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was also of concern, if not the immediate goal of papal policy in 1095. The idea of taking Jerusalem gained more focus as the Crusade was underway. The rebuilt church site was taken from the Fatimids (who had recently taken it from the Abassids) by the knights of the First Crusade on 15 July 1099.

 

The First Crusade was envisioned as an armed pilgrimage, and no crusader could consider his journey complete unless he had prayed as a pilgrim at the Holy Sepulchre. The classical theory is that Crusader leader Godfrey of Bouillon, who became the first Latin ruler of Jerusalem, decided not to use the title "king" during his lifetime, and declared himself Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri ("Protector [or Defender] of the Holy Sepulchre"). By the Crusader period, a cistern under the former basilica was rumoured to have been where Helena had found the True Cross, and began to be venerated as such; the cistern later became the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross, but there is no evidence of the site's identification before the 11th century, and modern archaeological investigation has now dated the cistern to 11th-century repairs by Monomachos.

 

According to the German priest and pilgrim Ludolf von Sudheim, the keys of the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre were in hands of the "ancient Georgians", and the food, alms, candles and oil for lamps were given to them by the pilgrims at the south door of the church.

 

Eight 11th- and 12th-century Crusader leaders (Godfrey, Baldwin I, Baldwin II, Fulk, Baldwin III, Amalric, Baldwin IV and Baldwin V — the first eight rulers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem) were buried in the south transept and inside the Chapel of Adam. The royal tombs were destroyed by the Greeks in 1809–1810. It is unclear if the remains of those men were exhumed; some researchers hypothesize that some of them may still be in unmarked pits under the church.

 

William of Tyre, chronicler of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, reports on the renovation of the Church in the mid-12th century. The Crusaders investigated the eastern ruins on the site, occasionally excavating through the rubble, and while attempting to reach the cistern, they discovered part of the original ground level of Hadrian's temple enclosure; they transformed this space into a chapel dedicated to Helena, widening their original excavation tunnel into a proper staircase. The Crusaders began to refurnish the church in Romanesque style and added a bell tower. These renovations unified the small chapels on the site and were completed during the reign of Queen Melisende in 1149, placing all the holy places under one roof for the first time. The church became the seat of the first Latin patriarchs and the site of the kingdom's scriptorium. It was lost to Saladin, along with the rest of the city, in 1187, although the treaty established after the Third Crusade allowed Christian pilgrims to visit the site. Emperor Frederick II (r. 1220–50) regained the city and the church by treaty in the 13th century while under a ban of excommunication, with the curious consequence that the holiest church in Christianity was laid under interdict. The church seems to have been largely in the hands of Greek Orthodox patriarch Athanasius II of Jerusalem (c. 1231–47) during the Latin control of Jerusalem. Both city and church were captured by the Khwarezmians in 1244.

 

There was certainly a recognisable Nestorian (Church of the East) presence at the Holy Sepulchre from the years 1348 through 1575, as contemporary Franciscan accounts indicate. The Franciscan friars renovated the church in 1555, as it had been neglected despite increased numbers of pilgrims. The Franciscans rebuilt the Aedicule, extending the structure to create an antechamber. A marble shrine commissioned by Friar Boniface of Ragusa was placed to envelop the remains of Christ's tomb, probably to prevent pilgrims from touching the original rock or taking small pieces as souvenirs. A marble slab was placed over the limestone burial bed where Jesus's body is believed to have lain.

 

After the renovation of 1555, control of the church oscillated between the Franciscans and the Orthodox, depending on which community could obtain a favorable firman from the "Sublime Porte" at a particular time, often through outright bribery. Violent clashes were not uncommon. There was no agreement about this question, although it was discussed at the negotiations to the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. During the Holy Week of 1757, Orthodox Christians reportedly took over some of the Franciscan-controlled church. This may have been the cause of the sultan's firman (decree) later developed into the Status Quo.

 

A fire severely damaged the structure again in 1808, causing the dome of the Rotunda to collapse and smashing the Aedicule's exterior decoration. The Rotunda and the Aedicule's exterior were rebuilt in 1809–10 by architect Nikolaos Ch. Komnenos of Mytilene in the contemporary Ottoman Baroque style.[citation needed] The interior of the antechamber, now known as the Chapel of the Angel, was partly rebuilt to a square ground plan in place of the previously semicircular western end.

 

Another decree in 1853 from the sultan solidified the existing territorial division among the communities and solidified the Status Quo for arrangements to "remain in their present state", requiring consensus to make even minor changes.

 

The dome was restored by Catholics, Greeks and Turks in 1868, being made of iron ever since.

 

By the time of the British Mandate for Palestine following the end of World War I, the cladding of red marble applied to the Aedicule by Komnenos had deteriorated badly and was detaching from the underlying structure; from 1947 until restoration work in 2016–17, it was held in place with an exterior scaffolding of iron girders installed by the British authorities.

 

In 1948, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan and the Old City with the church were made part of Jordan. In 1967, Israeli forces captured East Jerusalem in the Six Day War, and that area has remained under Israeli control ever since. Under Israeli rule, legal arrangements relating to the churches of East Jerusalem were maintained in coordination with the Jordanian government. The dome at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was restored again in 1994–97 as part of extensive modern renovations that have been ongoing since 1959. During the 1970–78 restoration works and excavations inside the building, and under the nearby Muristan bazaar, it was found that the area was originally a quarry, from which white meleke limestone was struck.

 

East of the Chapel of Saint Helena, the excavators discovered a void containing a second-century[dubious – discuss] drawing of a Roman pilgrim ship, two low walls supporting the platform of Hadrian's second-century temple, and a higher fourth-century wall built to support Constantine's basilica. After the excavations of the early 1970s, the Armenian authorities converted this archaeological space into the Chapel of Saint Vartan, and created an artificial walkway over the quarry on the north of the chapel, so that the new chapel could be accessed (by permission) from the Chapel of Saint Helena.

 

After seven decades of being held together by steel girders, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) declared the visibly deteriorating Aedicule structure unsafe. A restoration of the Aedicule was agreed upon and executed from May 2016 to March 2017. Much of the $4 million project was funded by the World Monuments Fund, as well as $1.3 million from Mica Ertegun and a significant sum from King Abdullah II of Jordan. The existence of the original limestone cave walls within the Aedicule was confirmed, and a window was created to view this from the inside. The presence of moisture led to the discovery of an underground shaft resembling an escape tunnel carved into the bedrock, seeming to lead from the tomb. For the first time since at least 1555, on 26 October 2016, marble cladding that protects the supposed burial bed of Jesus was removed. Members of the National Technical University of Athens were present. Initially, only a layer of debris was visible. This was cleared in the next day, and a partially broken marble slab with a Crusader-style cross carved was revealed. By the night of 28 October, the original limestone burial bed was shown to be intact. The tomb was resealed shortly thereafter. Mortar from just above the burial bed was later dated to the mid-fourth century.

 

On 25 March 2020, Israeli health officials ordered the site closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the keeper of the keys, it was the first such closure since 1349, during the Black Death. Clerics continued regular prayers inside the building, and it reopened to visitors two months later, on 24 May.

 

During church renovations in 2022, a stone slab covered in modern graffiti was moved from a wall, revealing Cosmatesque-style decoration on one face. According to an IAA archaeologist, the decoration was once inlaid with pieces of glass and fine marble; it indicates that the relic was the front of the church's high altar from the Crusader era (c. 1149), which was later used by the Greek Orthodox until being damaged in the 1808 fire.

 

The courtyard facing the entrance to the church is known as the parvis. Two streets open into the parvis: St Helena Road (west) and Suq ed-Dabbagha (east). Around the parvis are a few smaller structures.

 

South of the parvis, opposite the church:

 

Broken columns—once forming part of an arcade—stand opposite the church, at the top of a short descending staircase stretching over the entire breadth of the parvis. In the 13th century, the tops of the columns were removed and sent to Mecca by the Khwarezmids.

The Gethsemane Metochion, a small Greek Orthodox monastery (metochion).

On the eastern side of the parvis, south to north:

 

The Monastery of St Abraham (Greek Orthodox), next to the Suq ed-Dabbagha entrance to the parvis.

The Chapel of St John the Evangelist (Armenian Orthodox)

The Chapel of St Michael and the Chapel of the Four Living Creatures (both are disputed between the Copts and Ethiopians), giving access to Deir es-Sultan (also disputed), a rooftop monastery surrounding the dome of the Chapel of St Helena.

North of the parvis, in front of the church façade or against it:

 

Chapel of the Franks (Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows): a blue-domed Roman Catholic Crusader chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, which once provided exclusive access to Calvary. The chapel marks the 10th Station of the Cross (the stripping of Jesus's garments).

Oratory of St. Mary of Egypt: a Greek Orthodox oratory and chapel, directly beneath the Chapel of the Franks, dedicated to St. Mary of Egypt.

The tomb (including a ledgerstone) of Philip d'Aubigny aka Philip Daubeney (died 1236), a knight, tutor, and royal councilor to Henry III of England and signer of the Magna Carta—is placed in front of, and between, the church's two original entrance doors, of which the eastern one is walled up. It is one of the few tombs of crusaders and other Europeans not removed from the Church after the Khwarizmian capture of Jerusalem in 1244. In the 1900s, during a fight between the Greeks and Latins, some monks damaged the tomb by throwing stones from the roof. A stone marker[clarification needed] was placed on his tomb in 1925, sheltered by a wooden trapdoor that hides it from view.[citation needed]

A group of three chapels borders the parvis on its west side. They originally formed the baptistery complex of the Constantinian church. The southernmost chapel was the vestibule, the middle chapel the baptistery, and the north chapel the chamber in which the patriarch chrismated the newly baptized before leading them into the rotunda north of this complex. Now they are dedicated as (from south to north)

 

The Chapel of St. James the Just (Greek Orthodox),

The Chapel of St. John the Baptist (Greek Orthodox),

The Chapel of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (Greek Orthodox; at the base of the bell tower).

 

The 12th-century Crusader bell tower is just south of the Rotunda, to the left of the entrance. Its upper level was lost in a 1545 collapse. In 1719, another two storeys were lost.

 

The wooden doors that compose the main entrance are the original, highly carved arched doors. Today, only the left-hand entrance is currently accessible, as the right doorway has long since been bricked up. The entrance to the church leads to the south transept, through the crusader façade in the parvis of a larger courtyard. This is found past a group of streets winding through the outer Via Dolorosa by way of a souq in the Muristan. This narrow way of access to such a large structure has proven to be hazardous at times. For example, when a fire broke out in 1840, dozens of pilgrims were trampled to death.

 

According to their own family lore, the Muslim Nuseibeh family has been responsible for opening the door as an impartial party to the church's denominations already since the seventh century. However, they themselves admit that the documents held by various Christian denominations only mention their role since the 12th century, in the time of Saladin, which is the date more generally accepted. After retaking Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187, Saladin entrusted the Joudeh family with the key to the church, which is made of iron and 30 centimetres (12 in) long; the Nuseibehs either became or remained its doorkeepers.

 

The 'immovable ladder' stands beneath a window on the façade.

 

Just inside the church entrance is a stairway leading up to Calvary (Golgotha), traditionally regarded as the site of Jesus's crucifixion and the most lavishly decorated part of the church. The exit is via another stairway opposite the first, leading down to the ambulatory. Golgotha and its chapels are just south of the main altar of the catholicon.

 

Calvary is split into two chapels: one Greek Orthodox and one Catholic, each with its own altar. On the left (north) side, the Greek Orthodox chapel's altar is placed over the supposed rock of Calvary (the 12th Station of the Cross), which can be touched through a hole in the floor beneath the altar. The rock can be seen under protective glass on both sides of the altar. The softer surrounding stone was removed when the church was built. The Roman Catholic (Franciscan) Chapel of the Nailing of the Cross (the 11th Station of the Cross) stretches to the south. Between the Catholic Altar of the Nailing to the Cross and the Orthodox altar is the Catholic Altar of the Stabat Mater, which has a statue of Mary with an 18th-century bust; this middle altar marks the 13th Station of the Cross.

 

On the ground floor, just underneath the Golgotha chapel, is the Chapel of Adam. According to tradition, Jesus was crucified over the place where Adam's skull was buried. According to some, the blood of Christ ran down the cross and through the rocks to fill Adam's skull. Through a window at the back of the 11th-century apse, the rock of Calvary can be seen with a crack traditionally held to be caused by the earthquake that followed Jesus's death;[78] some scholars claim it is the result of quarrying against a natural flaw in the rock.

 

Behind the Chapel of Adam is the Greek Treasury (Treasury of the Greek Patriarch). Some of its relics, such as a 12th-century crystal mitre, were transferred to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate Museum (the Patriarchal Museum) on Greek Orthodox Patriarchate Street.

 

Just inside the entrance to the church is the Stone of Anointing (also Stone of the Anointing or Stone of Unction), which tradition holds to be where Jesus's body was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea, though this tradition is only attested since the crusader era (notably by the Italian Dominican pilgrim Riccoldo da Monte di Croce in 1288), and the present stone was only added in the 1810 reconstruction.

 

The wall behind the stone is defined by its striking blue balconies and taphos symbol-bearing red banners (depicting the insignia of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre), and is decorated with lamps. The modern mosaic along the wall depicts the anointing of Jesus's body, preceded on the right by the Descent from the Cross, and succeeded on the left by the Burial of Jesus.

 

The wall was a temporary addition to support the arch above it, which had been weakened after the damage in the 1808 fire; it blocks the view of the rotunda, separates the entrance from the catholicon, sits on top of four of the now empty and desecrated Crusader graves and is no longer structurally necessary. Opinions differ as to whether it is to be seen as the 13th Station of the Cross, which others identify as the lowering of Jesus from the cross and located between the 11th and 12th stations on Calvary.

 

The lamps that hang over the Stone of Unction, adorned with cross-bearing chain links, are contributed by Armenians, Copts, Greeks and Latins.

 

Immediately inside and to the left of the entrance is a bench (formerly a divan) that has traditionally been used by the church's Muslim doorkeepers, along with some Christian clergy, as well as electrical wiring. To the right of the entrance is a wall along the ambulatory containing the staircase leading to Golgotha. Further along the same wall is the entrance to the Chapel of Adam.

 

The rotunda is the building of the larger dome located on the far west side. In the centre of the rotunda is a small chapel called the Aedicule in English, from the Latin aedicula, in reference to a small shrine. The Aedicule has two rooms: the first holds a relic called the Angel's Stone, which is believed to be a fragment of the large stone that sealed the tomb; the second, smaller room contains the tomb of Jesus. Possibly to prevent pilgrims from removing bits of the original rock as souvenirs, by 1555, a surface of marble cladding was placed on the tomb to prevent further damage to the tomb. In October 2016, the top slab was pulled back to reveal an older, partially broken marble slab with a Crusader-style cross carved in it. Beneath it, the limestone burial bed was revealed to be intact.

 

Under the Status Quo, the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian Apostolic Churches all have rights to the interior of the tomb, and all three communities celebrate the Divine Liturgy or Holy Mass there daily. It is also used for other ceremonies on special occasions, such as the Holy Saturday ceremony of the Holy Fire led by the Greek Orthodox patriarch (with the participation of the Coptic and Armenian patriarchs). To its rear, in the Coptic Chapel, constructed of iron latticework, lies the altar used by the Coptic Orthodox. Historically, the Georgians also retained the key to the Aedicule.

 

To the right of the sepulchre on the northwestern edge of the Rotunda is the Chapel of the Apparition, which is reserved for Roman Catholic use.

 

In the central nave of the Crusader-era church, just east of the larger rotunda, is the Crusader structure housing the main altar of the Church, today the Greek Orthodox catholicon. Its dome is 19.8 metres (65 ft) in diameter, and is set directly over the centre of the transept crossing of the choir where the compas is situated, an omphalos ("navel") stone once thought to be the center of the world and still venerated as such by Orthodox Christians (associated with the site of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection).

 

Since 1996 this dome is topped by the monumental Golgotha Crucifix, which the Greek Patriarch Diodoros I of Jerusalem consecrated. It was at the initiative of Israeli professor Gustav Kühnel to erect a new crucifix at the church that would not only be worthy of the singularity of the site, but that would also become a symbol of the efforts of unity in the community of Christian faith.

 

The catholicon's iconostasis demarcates the Orthodox sanctuary behind it, to its east. The iconostasis is flanked to the front by two episcopal thrones: the southern seat (cathedra) is the patriarchal throne of the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, and the northern seat is for an archbishop or bishop. (There is also a popular claim that both are patriarchal thrones, with the northern one being for the patriarch of Antioch — which has been described as a misstatement, however.)

 

South of the Aedicule is the "Place of the Three Marys", marked by a stone canopy (the Station of the Holy Women) and a large modern wall mosaic. From here one can enter the Armenian monastery, which stretches over the ground and first upper floor of the church's southeastern part.

 

West of the Aedicule, to the rear of the Rotunda, is the Syriac Chapel with the Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, located in a Constantinian apse and containing an opening to an ancient Jewish rock-cut tomb. This chapel is where the Syriac Orthodox celebrate their Liturgy on Sundays.

 

The Syriac Orthodox Chapel of Saint Joseph of Arimathea and Saint Nicodemus. On Sundays and feast days it is furnished for the celebration of Mass. It is accessed from the Rotunda, by a door west of the Aedicule.

 

On the far side of the chapel is the low entrance to an almost complete first-century Jewish tomb, initially holding six kokh-type funeral shafts radiating from a central chamber, two of which are still exposed. Although this space was discovered relatively recently and contains no identifying marks, some believe that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were buried here. Since Jews always buried their dead outside the city, the presence of this tomb seems to prove that the Holy Sepulchre site was outside the city walls at the time of the crucifixion.

 

The Franciscan Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene – The chapel, an open area, indicates the place where Mary Magdalene met Jesus after his resurrection.

 

The Franciscan Chapel of the Apparition (Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament), directly north of the above – in memory of Jesus's meeting with his mother after the Resurrection, a non-scriptural tradition. Here stands a piece of an ancient column, allegedly part of the one Jesus was tied to during his scourging.

 

The Arches of the Virgin are seven arches (an arcade) at the northern end of the north transept, which is to the catholicon's north. Disputed by the Orthodox and the Latin, the area is used to store ladders.

 

In the northeast side of the complex, there is the Prison of Christ, alleged to be where Jesus was held. The Greek Orthodox are showing pilgrims yet another place where Jesus was allegedly held, the similarly named Prison of Christ in their Monastery of the Praetorium, located near the Church of Ecce Homo, between the Second and Third Stations of the Via Dolorosa. The Armenians regard a recess in the Monastery of the Flagellation at the Second Station of the Via Dolorosa as the Prison of Christ. A cistern among the ruins beneath the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu on Mount Zion is also alleged to have been the Prison of Christ. To reconcile the traditions, some allege that Jesus was held in the Mount Zion cell in connection with his trial by the Jewish high priest, at the Praetorium in connection with his trial by the Roman governor Pilate, and near the Golgotha before crucifixion.

 

The chapels in the ambulatory are, from north to south: the Greek Chapel of Saint Longinus (named after Longinus), the Armenian Chapel of the Division of Robes, the entrance to the Chapel of Saint Helena, and the Greek Chapel of the Derision.

 

Chapel of Saint Helena – between the Chapel of the Division of Robes and the Greek Chapel of the Derision are stairs descending to the Chapel of Saint Helena. The Armenians, who own it, call it the Chapel of St. Gregory the Illuminator, after the saint who brought Christianity to the Armenians.

 

Chapel of St Vartan (or Vardan) Mamikonian – on the north side of the Chapel of Saint Helena is an ornate wrought iron door, beyond which a raised artificial platform affords views of the quarry, and which leads to the Chapel of Saint Vartan. The latter chapel contains archaeological remains from Hadrian's temple and Constantine's basilica. These areas are open only on request.

 

Chapel of the Invention of the Cross (named for the Invention (Finding) of the Holy Cross) – another set of 22 stairs from the Chapel of Saint Helena leads down to the Roman Catholic Chapel of the Invention of the Holy Cross, believed to be the place where the True Cross was found.

 

An Ottoman decree of 1757 helped establish a status quo upholding the state of affairs for various Holy Land sites. The status quo was upheld in Sultan Abdülmecid I's firman (decree) of 1852/3, which pinned down the now-permanent statutes of property and the regulations concerning the roles of the different denominations and other custodians.

 

The primary custodians are the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic churches. The Greek Orthodox act through the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate as well as through the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. Roman Catholics act through the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. In the 19th century, the Coptic Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Syriac Orthodox also acquired lesser responsibilities, which include shrines and other structures in and around the building.

 

None of these controls the main entrance. In 1192, Saladin assigned door-keeping responsibilities to the Muslim Nusaybah family. The wooden doors that compose the main entrance are the original, highly carved doors. The Joudeh al-Goudia (al-Ghodayya) family were entrusted as custodian to the keys of the Holy Sepulchre by Saladin in 1187. Despite occasional disagreements, religious services take place in the Church with regularity and coexistence is generally peaceful. An example of concord between the Church custodians is the full restoration of the Aedicule from 2016 to 2017.

 

The establishment of the modern Status Quo in 1853 did not halt controversy and occasional violence. In 1902, 18 friars were hospitalized and some monks were jailed after the Franciscans and Greeks disagreed over who could clean the lowest step of the Chapel of the Franks. In the aftermath, the Greek patriarch, Franciscan custos, Ottoman governor and French consul general signed a convention that both denominations could sweep it. On a hot summer day in 2002, a Coptic monk moved his chair from its agreed spot into the shade. This was interpreted as a hostile move by the Ethiopians and eleven were hospitalized after the resulting fight. In another incident in 2004, during Orthodox celebrations of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a door to the Franciscan chapel was left open. This was taken as a sign of disrespect by the Orthodox and a fistfight broke out. Some people were arrested, but no one was seriously injured.

 

On Palm Sunday, in April 2008, a brawl broke out when a Greek monk was ejected from the building by a rival faction. Police were called to the scene but were also attacked by the enraged brawlers. On Sunday, 9 November 2008, a clash erupted between Armenian and Greek monks during celebrations for the Feast of the Cross.

 

In February 2018, the church was closed following a tax dispute over 152 million euros of uncollected taxes on church properties. The city hall stressed that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and all other churches are exempt from the taxes, with the changes only affecting establishments like "hotels, halls and businesses" owned by the churches. NPR had reported that the Greek Orthodox Church calls itself the second-largest landowner in Israel, after the Israeli government.

 

There was a lock-in protest against an Israeli legislative proposal which would expropriate church lands that had been sold to private companies since 2010, a measure which church leaders assert constitutes a serious violation of their property rights and the Status Quo. In a joint official statement the church authorities protested what they considered to be the peak of a systematic campaign in:

 

a discriminatory and racist bill that targets solely the properties of the Christian community in the Holy Land ... This reminds us all of laws of a similar nature which were enacted against the Jews during dark periods in Europe.

 

The 2018 taxation affair does not cover any church buildings or religious related facilities (because they are exempt by law), but commercial facilities such as the Notre Dame Hotel which was not paying the municipal property tax, and any land which is owned and used as a commercial land. The church holds the rights to land where private homes have been constructed, and some of the disagreement had been raised after the Knesset had proposed a bill that will make it harder for a private company not to extend a lease for land used by homeowners. The church leaders have said that such a bill will make it harder for them to sell church-owned lands. According to The Jerusalem Post:

 

The stated aim of the bill is to protect homeowners against the possibility that private companies will not extend their leases of land on which their houses or apartments stand.

 

In June 2019, a number of Christian denominations in Jerusalem raised their voice against the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the sale of three properties by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate to Ateret Cohanim – an organization that seeks to increase the number of Jews living in the Old City and East Jerusalem. The church leaders warned that if the organization gets to control the sites, Christians could lose access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In June 2022, the Supreme Court upheld the sale and ended the legal battle.

 

The site of the church had been a temple to Jupiter or Venus built by Hadrian before Constantine's edifice was built. Hadrian's temple had been located there because it was the junction of the main north–south road with one of the two main east–west roads and directly adjacent to the forum (now the location of the Muristan, which is smaller than the former forum). The forum itself had been placed, as is traditional in Roman towns, at the junction of the main north–south road with the other main east–west road (which is now El-Bazar/David Street). The temple and forum together took up the entire space between the two main east–west roads (a few above-ground remains of the east end of the temple precinct still survive in the Alexander Nevsky Church complex of the Russian Mission in Exile).

 

From the archaeological excavations in the 1970s, it is clear that construction took over most of the site of the earlier temple enclosure and that the Triportico and Rotunda roughly overlapped with the temple building itself; the excavations indicate that the temple extended at least as far back as the Aedicule, and the temple enclosure would have reached back slightly further. Virgilio Canio Corbo, a Franciscan priest and archaeologist, who was present at the excavations, estimated from the archaeological evidence that the western retaining wall of the temple itself would have passed extremely close to the east side of the supposed tomb; if the wall had been any further west any tomb would have been crushed under the weight of the wall (which would be immediately above it) if it had not already been destroyed when foundations for the wall were made.

 

Other archaeologists have criticized Corbo's reconstructions. Dan Bahat, the former city archaeologist of Jerusalem, regards them as unsatisfactory, as there is no known temple of Aphrodite (Venus) matching Corbo's design, and no archaeological evidence for Corbo's suggestion that the temple building was on a platform raised high enough to avoid including anything sited where the Aedicule is now; indeed Bahat notes that many temples to Aphrodite have a rotunda-like design, and argues that there is no archaeological reason to assume that the present rotunda was not based on a rotunda in the temple previously on the site.

 

The New Testament describes Jesus's tomb as being outside the city wall,[l] as was normal for burials across the ancient world, which were regarded as unclean. Today, the site of the Church is within the current walls of the old city of Jerusalem. It has been well documented by archaeologists that in the time of Jesus, the walled city was smaller and the wall then was to the east of the current site of the Church. In other words, the city had been much narrower in Jesus's time, with the site then having been outside the walls; since Herod Agrippa (41–44) is recorded by history as extending the city to the north (beyond the present northern walls), the required repositioning of the western wall is traditionally attributed to him as well.

 

The area immediately to the south and east of the sepulchre was a quarry and outside the city during the early first century as excavations under the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer across the street demonstrated.[citation needed]

 

The church is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Old City of Jerusalem.

 

The Christian Quarter and the (also Christian) Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem are both located in the northwestern and western part of the Old City, due to the fact that the Holy Sepulchre is located close to the northwestern corner of the walled city. The adjacent neighbourhood within the Christian Quarter is called the Muristan, a term derived from the Persian word for hospital – Christian pilgrim hospices have been maintained in this area near the Holy Sepulchre since at least the time of Charlemagne.

 

From the ninth century onward, the construction of churches inspired by the Anastasis was extended across Europe. One example is Santo Stefano in Bologna, Italy, an agglomeration of seven churches recreating shrines of Jerusalem.

 

Several churches and monasteries in Europe, for instance, in Germany and Russia, and at least one church in the United States have been wholly or partially modeled on the Church of the Resurrection, some even reproducing other holy places for the benefit of pilgrims who could not travel to the Holy Land. They include the Heiliges Grab ("Holy Tomb") of Görlitz, constructed between 1481 and 1504, the New Jerusalem Monastery in Moscow Oblast, constructed by Patriarch Nikon between 1656 and 1666, and Mount St. Sepulchre Franciscan Monastery built by the Franciscans in Washington, DC in 1898.

 

Author Andrew Holt writes that the church is the most important in all Christendom.

 

Jerusalem is an ancient city in West Asia, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Both Israel and Palestine claim Jerusalem as their capital; Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there, and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Neither claim, however, is widely recognized internationally.

 

Throughout its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, and attacked 52 times. The part of Jerusalem called the City of David shows first signs of settlement in the 4th millennium BCE, in the shape of encampments of nomadic shepherds. During the Canaanite period (14th century BCE), Jerusalem was named as Urusalim on ancient Egyptian tablets, probably meaning "City of Shalem" after a Canaanite deity. During the Israelite period, significant construction activity in Jerusalem began in the 10th century BCE (Iron Age II), and by the 9th century BCE, the city had developed into the religious and administrative centre of the Kingdom of Judah. In 1538, the city walls were rebuilt for a last time around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire. Today those walls define the Old City, which since the 19th century has been divided into four quarters – the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Since 1860, Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old City's boundaries. In 2022, Jerusalem had a population of some 971,800 residents, of which almost 60% were Jews and almost 40% Palestinians. In 2020, the population was 951,100, of which Jews comprised 570,100 (59.9%), Muslims 353,800 (37.2%), Christians 16,300 (1.7%), and 10,800 unclassified (1.1%).

 

According to the Hebrew Bible, King David conquered the city from the Jebusites and established it as the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel, and his son, King Solomon, commissioned the building of the First Temple. Modern scholars argue that Jews branched out of the Canaanite peoples and culture through the development of a distinct monolatrous—and later monotheistic—religion centred on El/Yahweh. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, assumed central symbolic importance for the Jewish people. The sobriquet of holy city (Hebrew: עיר הקודש, romanized: 'Ir ha-Qodesh) was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, which Christians adopted as their own "Old Testament", was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection there. In Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. The city was the first qibla, the standard direction for Muslim prayers (salah), and in Islamic tradition, Muhammad made his Night Journey there in 621, ascending to heaven where he speaks to God, according to the Quran. As a result, despite having an area of only 0.9 km2 (3⁄8 sq mi), the Old City is home to many sites of seminal religious importance, among them the Temple Mount with its Western Wall, Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

 

Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the core issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the areas captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured and later annexed by Jordan. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently effectively annexed it into Jerusalem, together with additional surrounding territory.[note 6] One of Israel's Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the country's undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset (Israel's parliament), the residences of the Prime Minister (Beit Aghion) and President (Beit HaNassi), and the Supreme Court. The international community rejects the annexation as illegal and regards East Jerusalem as Palestinian territory occupied by Israel.

 

Etymology

The name "Jerusalem" is variously etymologized to mean "foundation (Semitic yry' 'to found, to lay a cornerstone') of the pagan god Shalem"; the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city.

 

Shalim or Shalem was the name of the god of dusk in the Canaanite religion, whose name is based on the same root S-L-M from which the Hebrew word for "peace" is derived (Shalom in Hebrew, cognate with Arabic Salam). The name thus offered itself to etymologizations such as "The City of Peace", "Abode of Peace", "Dwelling of Peace" ("founded in safety"), or "Vision of Peace" in some Christian authors.

 

The ending -ayim indicates the dual, thus leading to the suggestion that the name Yerushalayim refers to the fact that the city initially sat on two hills.

 

Ancient Egyptian sources

The Execration Texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (c. 19th century BCE), which refer to a city called rwšꜣlmm or ꜣwšꜣmm, variously transcribed as Rušalimum, or Urušalimum, may indicate Jerusalem. Alternatively, the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba (1330s BCE), which reference an Úrušalim, may be the earliest mention of the city.

 

Hebrew Bible and Jewish sources

The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua. According to a Midrash, the name is a combination of two names united by God, Yireh ("the abiding place", the name given by Abraham to the place where he planned to sacrifice his son) and Shalem ("Place of Peace", the name given by high priest Shem).

 

Oldest written mention of Jerusalem

One of the earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states: "I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem", or as other scholars suggest: "Yahweh is the God of the whole earth. The mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem". An older example on papyrus is known from the previous century.

 

In extra-biblical inscriptions, the earliest known example of the -ayim ending was discovered on a column about 3 km west of ancient Jerusalem, dated to the first century BCE.

 

Jebus, Zion, City of David

An ancient settlement of Jerusalem, founded as early as the Bronze Age on the hill above the Gihon Spring, was, according to the Bible, named Jebus. Called the "Fortress of Zion" (metsudat Zion), it was renamed as the "City of David", and was known by this name in antiquity. Another name, "Zion", initially referred to a distinct part of the city, but later came to signify the city as a whole, and afterwards to represent the whole biblical Land of Israel.

 

Greek, Roman and Byzantine names

In Greek and Latin, the city's name was transliterated Hierosolyma (Greek: Ἱεροσόλυμα; in Greek hieròs, ἱερός, means holy), although the city was renamed Aelia Capitolina for part of the Roman period of its history.

 

Salem

The Aramaic Apocryphon of Genesis of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QapGen 22:13) equates Jerusalem with the earlier "Salem" (שלם), said to be the kingdom of Melchizedek in Genesis 14. Other early Hebrew sources, early Christian renderings of the verse and targumim, however, put Salem in Northern Israel near Shechem (Sichem), now Nablus, a city of some importance in early sacred Hebrew writing. Possibly the redactor of the Apocryphon of Genesis wanted to dissociate Melchizedek from the area of Shechem, which at the time was in possession of the Samaritans. However that may be, later Rabbinic sources also equate Salem with Jerusalem, mainly to link Melchizedek to later Temple traditions.

 

Arabic names

In Arabic, Jerusalem is most commonly known as القُدس, transliterated as al-Quds and meaning "the holy" or "the holy sanctuary", cognate with Hebrew: הקדש, romanized: ha-qodesh. The name is possibly a shortened form of مدينة القُدس Madīnat al-Quds "city of the holy sanctuary" after the Hebrew nickname with the same meaning, Ir ha-Qodesh (עיר הקדש). The ق (Q) is pronounced either with a voiceless uvular plosive (/q/), as in Classical Arabic, or with a glottal stop (ʔ) as in Levantine Arabic. Official Israeli government policy mandates that أُورُشَلِيمَ, transliterated as Ūrušalīm, which is the name frequently used in Christian translations of the Bible into Arabic, be used as the Arabic language name for the city in conjunction with القُدس, giving أُورُشَلِيمَ-القُدس, Ūrušalīm-al-Quds. Palestinian Arab families who hail from this city are often called "Qudsi" (قُدسي) or "Maqdasi" (مقدسي), while Palestinian Muslim Jerusalemites may use these terms as a demonym.

 

Given the city's central position in both Jewish nationalism (Zionism) and Palestinian nationalism, the selectivity required to summarize some 5,000 years of inhabited history is often influenced by ideological bias or background. Israeli or Jewish nationalists claim a right to the city based on Jewish indigeneity to the land, particularly their origins in and descent from the Israelites, for whom Jerusalem is their capital, and their yearning for return. In contrast, Palestinian nationalists claim the right to the city based on modern Palestinians' longstanding presence and descent from many different peoples who have settled or lived in the region over the centuries. Both sides claim the history of the city has been politicized by the other in order to strengthen their relative claims to the city, and that this is borne out by the different focuses the different writers place on the various events and eras in the city's history.

 

Prehistory

The first archaeological evidence of human presence in the area comes in the form of flints dated to between 6000 and 7000 years ago, with ceramic remains appearing during the Chalcolithic period, and the first signs of permanent settlement appearing in the Early Bronze Age in 3000–2800 BCE.

 

Bronze and Iron Ages

The earliest evidence of city fortifications appear in the Mid to Late Bronze Age and could date to around the 18th century BCE. By around 1550–1200 BCE, Jerusalem was the capital of an Egyptian vassal city-state, a modest settlement governing a few outlying villages and pastoral areas, with a small Egyptian garrison and ruled by appointees such as king Abdi-Heba. At the time of Seti I (r. 1290–1279 BCE) and Ramesses II (r. 1279–1213 BCE), major construction took place as prosperity increased. The city's inhabitants at this time were Canaanites, who are believed by scholars to have evolved into the Israelites via the development of a distinct Yahweh-centric monotheistic belief system.

 

Archaeological remains from the ancient Israelite period include the Siloam Tunnel, an aqueduct built by Judahite king Hezekiah and once containing an ancient Hebrew inscription, known as the Siloam Inscription; the so-called Broad Wall, a defensive fortification built in the 8th century BCE, also by Hezekiah; the Silwan necropolis (9th–7th c. BCE) with the Monolith of Silwan and the Tomb of the Royal Steward, which were decorated with monumental Hebrew inscriptions; and the so-called Israelite Tower, remnants of ancient fortifications, built from large, sturdy rocks with carved cornerstones. A huge water reservoir dating from this period was discovered in 2012 near Robinson's Arch, indicating the existence of a densely built-up quarter across the area west of the Temple Mount during the Kingdom of Judah.

 

When the Assyrians conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, Jerusalem was strengthened by a great influx of refugees from the northern kingdom. When Hezekiah ruled, Jerusalem had no fewer than 25,000 inhabitants and covered 25 acres (10 hectares).

 

In 587–586 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire conquered Jerusalem after a prolonged siege, and then systematically destroyed the city, including Solomon's Temple. The Kingdom of Judah was abolished and many were exiled to Babylon. These events mark the end of the First Temple period.

 

Biblical account

This period, when Canaan formed part of the Egyptian empire, corresponds in biblical accounts to Joshua's invasion, but almost all scholars agree that the Book of Joshua holds little historical value for early Israel.

 

In the Bible, Jerusalem is defined as lying within territory allocated to the tribe of Benjamin though still inhabited by Jebusites. David is said to have conquered these in the siege of Jebus, and transferred his capital from Hebron to Jerusalem which then became the capital of a United Kingdom of Israel, and one of its several religious centres. The choice was perhaps dictated by the fact that Jerusalem did not form part of Israel's tribal system, and was thus suited to serve as the centre of its confederation. Opinion is divided over whether the so-called Large Stone Structure and the nearby Stepped Stone Structure may be identified with King David's palace, or dates to a later period.

 

According to the Bible, King David reigned for 40 years and was succeeded by his son Solomon, who built the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah. Solomon's Temple (later known as the First Temple), went on to play a pivotal role in Jewish religion as the repository of the Ark of the Covenant. On Solomon's death, ten of the northern tribes of Israel broke with the United Monarchy to form their own nation, with its kings, prophets, priests, traditions relating to religion, capitals and temples in northern Israel. The southern tribes, together with the Aaronid priesthood, remained in Jerusalem, with the city becoming the capital of the Kingdom of Judah.

 

Classical antiquity

In 538 BCE, the Achaemenid King Cyrus the Great invited the Jews of Babylon to return to Judah to rebuild the Temple. Construction of the Second Temple was completed in 516 BCE, during the reign of Darius the Great, 70 years after the destruction of the First Temple.

 

Sometime soon after 485 BCE Jerusalem was besieged, conquered and largely destroyed by a coalition of neighbouring states. In about 445 BCE, King Artaxerxes I of Persia issued a decree allowing the city (including its walls) to be rebuilt. Jerusalem resumed its role as capital of Judah and centre of Jewish worship.

 

Many Jewish tombs from the Second Temple period have been unearthed in Jerusalem. One example, discovered north of the Old City, contains human remains in a 1st-century CE ossuary decorated with the Aramaic inscription "Simon the Temple Builder". The Tomb of Abba, also located north of the Old City, bears an Aramaic inscription with Paleo-Hebrew letters reading: "I, Abba, son of the priest Eleaz(ar), son of Aaron the high (priest), Abba, the oppressed and the persecuted, who was born in Jerusalem, and went into exile into Babylonia and brought (back to Jerusalem) Mattathi(ah), son of Jud(ah), and buried him in a cave which I bought by deed." The Tomb of Benei Hezir located in Kidron Valley is decorated by monumental Doric columns and Hebrew inscription, identifying it as the burial site of Second Temple priests. The Tombs of the Sanhedrin, an underground complex of 63 rock-cut tombs, is located in a public park in the northern Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sanhedria. These tombs, probably reserved for members of the Sanhedrin and inscribed by ancient Hebrew and Aramaic writings, are dated to between 100 BCE and 100 CE.

 

When Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire, Jerusalem and Judea came under Macedonian control, eventually falling to the Ptolemaic dynasty under Ptolemy I. In 198 BCE, Ptolemy V Epiphanes lost Jerusalem and Judea to the Seleucids under Antiochus III. The Seleucid attempt to recast Jerusalem as a Hellenized city-state came to a head in 168 BCE with the successful Maccabean revolt of Mattathias and his five sons against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and their establishment of the Hasmonean Kingdom in 152 BCE with Jerusalem as its capital.

 

In 63 BCE, Pompey the Great intervened in a struggle for the Hasmonean throne and captured Jerusalem, extending the influence of the Roman Republic over Judea. Following a short invasion by Parthians, backing the rival Hasmonean rulers, Judea became a scene of struggle between pro-Roman and pro-Parthian forces, eventually leading to the emergence of an Edomite named Herod. As Rome became stronger, it installed Herod as a client king of the Jews. Herod the Great, as he was known, devoted himself to developing and beautifying the city. He built walls, towers and palaces, and expanded the Temple Mount, buttressing the courtyard with blocks of stone weighing up to 100 tons. Under Herod, the area of the Temple Mount doubled in size. Shortly after Herod's death, in 6 CE Judea came under direct Roman rule as the Iudaea Province, although the Herodian dynasty through Agrippa II remained client kings of neighbouring territories until 96 CE.

 

Roman rule over Jerusalem and Judea was challenged in the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), which ended with a Roman victory. Early on, the city was devastated by a brutal civil war between several Jewish factions fighting for control of the city. In 70 CE, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple. The contemporary Jewish historian Josephus wrote that the city "was so thoroughly razed to the ground by those that demolished it to its foundations, that nothing was left that could ever persuade visitors that it had once been a place of habitation." Of the 600,000 (Tacitus) or 1,000,000 (Josephus) Jews of Jerusalem, all of them either died of starvation, were killed or were sold into slavery. Roman rule was again challenged during the Bar Kokhba revolt, beginning in 132 CE and suppressed by the Romans in 135 CE. More recent research indicates that the Romans had founded Aelia Capitolina before the outbreak of the revolt, and found no evidence for Bar Kokhba ever managing to hold the city.

 

Jerusalem reached a peak in size and population at the end of the Second Temple Period, when the city covered two km2 (3⁄4 sq mi) and had a population of 200,000.

 

Late Antiquity

Following the Bar Kokhba revolt, Emperor Hadrian combined Iudaea Province with neighbouring provinces under the new name of Syria Palaestina, replacing the name of Judea. The city was renamed Aelia Capitolina, and rebuilt it in the style of a typical Roman town. Jews were prohibited from entering the city on pain of death, except for one day each year, during the holiday of Tisha B'Av. Taken together, these measures (which also affected Jewish Christians) essentially "secularized" the city. Historical sources and archaeological evidence indicate that the rebuilt city was now inhabited by veterans of the Roman military and immigrants from the western parts of the empire.

 

The ban against Jews was maintained until the 7th century, though Christians would soon be granted an exemption: during the 4th century, the Roman emperor Constantine I ordered the construction of Christian holy sites in the city, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Burial remains from the Byzantine period are exclusively Christian, suggesting that the population of Jerusalem in Byzantine times probably consisted only of Christians.

 

Jerusalem.

In the 5th century, the eastern continuation of the Roman Empire, ruled from the recently renamed Constantinople, maintained control of the city. Within the span of a few decades, Jerusalem shifted from Byzantine to Persian rule, then back to Roman-Byzantine dominion. Following Sassanid Khosrau II's early 7th century push through Syria, his generals Shahrbaraz and Shahin attacked Jerusalem (Persian: Dej Houdkh) aided by the Jews of Palaestina Prima, who had risen up against the Byzantines.

 

In the Siege of Jerusalem of 614, after 21 days of relentless siege warfare, Jerusalem was captured. Byzantine chronicles relate that the Sassanids and Jews slaughtered tens of thousands of Christians in the city, many at the Mamilla Pool, and destroyed their monuments and churches, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This episode has been the subject of much debate between historians. The conquered city would remain in Sassanid hands for some fifteen years until the Byzantine emperor Heraclius reconquered it in 629.

 

Middle Ages

After the Muslim conquest of the Levant, Byzantine Jerusalem was taken by Umar ibn al-Khattab in 638 CE. Among the first Muslims, it was referred to as Madinat bayt al-Maqdis ("City of the Temple"), a name restricted to the Temple Mount. The rest of the city "was called Iliya, reflecting the Roman name given the city following the destruction of 70 CE: Aelia Capitolina". Later the Temple Mount became known as al-Haram al-Sharif, "The Noble Sanctuary", while the city around it became known as Bayt al-Maqdis, and later still, al-Quds al-Sharif "The Holy, Noble". The Islamization of Jerusalem began in the first year A.H. (623 CE), when Muslims were instructed to face the city while performing their daily prostrations and, according to Muslim religious tradition, Muhammad's night journey and ascension to heaven took place. After 13 years, the direction of prayer was changed to Mecca. In 638 CE the Islamic Caliphate extended its dominion to Jerusalem. With the Muslim conquest, Jews were allowed back into the city. The Rashidun caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab signed a treaty with Christian Patriarch of Jerusalem Sophronius, assuring him that Jerusalem's Christian holy places and population would be protected under Muslim rule. Christian-Arab tradition records that, when led to pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the holiest sites for Christians, the caliph Umar refused to pray in the church so that Muslims would not request conversion of the church to a mosque. He prayed outside the church, where the Mosque of Umar (Omar) stands to this day, opposite the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. According to the Gaullic bishop Arculf, who lived in Jerusalem from 679 to 688, the Mosque of Umar was a rectangular wooden structure built over ruins which could accommodate 3,000 worshipers.

 

When the Arab armies under Umar went to Bayt Al-Maq

From signage in the church:

 

Between 1764 and 1781 the church was fitted with an ensemble of late Baroque fixtures: the pulpit, confessionals, pews and eleven altars. The ensemble displayed stylistic harmony, as well as a singleness of purpose-drawing attention to the main altar.

 

[The main altar] now contains the Crucifix that had previously hung above the altar of the Holy Cross. The cross was known to bestow special grace, and it was at this time that the fresco depicting this Crucifix was painted on the façade of the church. The identity of the person who designed the new interior furnishings is not now known. The interior was executed by several joiners (Giotto, Holtzas, Valteris and others are mentioned). Paintings for the altars were done by . . . a person with the surname Motiejus.

 

Between 1764 and 1768 Mikaloju Jansonas, a renowned organ builder of the day, restored the church organ and moved it from the side nave to a platform constructed at the back of the presbytery (choir). (At the end of the 19th century the organ was reconstructed once again and moved to the old balcony of the Bernardines.)

 

From the middle of the 18th century until the end of the 20th century the architecture and furnishings of the church remained largely unchanged. When the church was closed during the Soviet years, the painting over the altar, the liturgical vessels and other fixtures were scattered among museum collections or given to other churches.

 

The altar ensemble, which was disassembled for reconstruction has only been partially restored. In response to present-day liturgical requirements, a new altar created by Rimas Skakalauakas was constructed in 1998 and placed in the central nave of the church. The altar echoes the lines and shapes of the old Gothic belfry.

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The Church of St. Francis and St. Bernard (also known as Bernardine Church) is a Roman Catholic church in the Old Town of Vilnius, Lithuania. It is located next to St. Anne's Church. Dedicated to Saints Francis of Assisi and Bernardino of Siena, it is an important example of Gothic architecture in Lithuania.[1]

 

History

After their arrival in Vilnius, Bernardine monks built a wooden church in the second half of the 15th century, and at the end of the same century - a brick one. In the early 16th century it was reconstructed, apparently with the participation of a master from Gdansk (Danzig) Michael Enkinger.

 

In the beginning of the 16th century the church was incorporated into the construction of Vilnius defensive wall, so there are shooting openings in its walls.

 

Afterwards it was renewed many times, particularly after the 1655-61 war with Moscow, when the Cossacks ravaged the church killing the monks and citizens who had taken shelter there.

 

In the times of the Soviet occupation it was closed down and handed over to the Art institute.

 

In 1994, the brethren of St. Francis returned to the church. According to the legend, the Bernardine monks used to tell such good sermons that crowds would come to listen. That is why the church is so large.

 

Architecture

Church and Monastery are some of the largest sacral buildings in Vilnius, although in the 17th and 18th centuries they acquired the Renaissance and Baroque features. Being much larger and more archaic than the St. Anne's Church, it forms and interesting and unique ensemble with the latter. Gothic pointed-arch windows and buttresses stand out on the façade.

 

Above them rises a pediment with twin octagonal towers on the sides and a fresco depicting the Crucifix in the middle niche. A Gothic presbytery is the oldest part of the church. Eight high pillars divide the church interior into 3 naves. There are many valuable 16th-century wall paintings in Bernardine church and the oldest known artistic Lithuanian crucifix sculpture from the 15th century. [2]

 

The walls of the naves are decorated with Gothic polychrome frescoes, partly uncovered in 1981 - dynamic, colourful figural compositions on biblical and hagiographic themes, with occasional inscriptions in Gothic characters, floral ornaments, heraldic insignia etc. These mural paintings date from the early 16th century and are considered unique in the world: their composition and type of presentation of the subject matter belongs to Renaissance, and the stylistics - to the Gothic style. [3]

 

The Bernardine monastery north of the church, built simultaneously with the church, was renovated and reconstructed several times. Since its founding, a novitiate and a seminary operated at the monastery, a rich library had been accumulated, and a scriptorium operated. There artists, craftsmen and organists among the monks. The monastery was closed in 1864, and the building housed soldiers' barracks. In 1919 it was given to the art faculty of the university, later - to the Art Institute (now the Art Academy).

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St._Francis_and_St._Berna...

St Albans Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, is a Church of England cathedral church within St Albans, England. At 84 metres (276 ft), its nave is the longest of any cathedral in England. With much of its present architecture dating from Norman times, it was formerly known as St Albans Abbey before it became a cathedral in 1877. It is the second longest cathedral in the United Kingdom (after Winchester). Local residents often call it "the abbey", although the present cathedral represents only the church of the old Benedictine abbey.

 

The abbey church, although legally a cathedral church, differs in certain particulars from most of the other cathedrals in England: it is also used as a parish church, of which the dean is rector. He has the same powers, responsibilities and duties as the rector of any other parish.

 

Alban was a pagan living in the Roman city of Verulamium, now Verulamium Park, in St Albans, in Hertfordshire, England, about 22 miles (35 km) north of London along Watling Street. Before Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, local Christians were being persecuted by the Romans. Alban sheltered their priest, Saint Amphibalus, in his home and was converted to the Christian faith by him. When the soldiers came to Alban's house looking for the priest, Alban exchanged cloaks with the priest and let himself be arrested in his place. Alban was taken before the magistrate, where he avowed his new Christian faith and was condemned for it. He was beheaded, according to legend, on the spot where the cathedral named after him now stands. The site is on a steep hill and legend has it that his head rolled down the hill after being cut off and that a well sprang up at the point where it stopped.

A well certainly exists today and the road up to the cathedral is named Holywell Hill. However the current well structure is no older than the late 19th century and it is thought that the name of the street derives from the "Halywell" river and "Halywell Bridge", not from the well.

 

The date of Alban's execution is a matter of some debate and is generally given as "circa 250"—scholars generally suggest dates of 209, 254 or 304.

 

History of the abbey and cathedral

 

A memoria over the execution point and holding the remains of Alban existed at the site from the mid-4th century (possibly earlier); Bedementions a church and Gildas a shrine. Bishop Germanus of Auxerre visited in 429 and took a portion of the apparently still bloody earth away. The style of this structure is unknown; the 13th century chronicler Matthew Paris (see below) claimed that the Saxons destroyed the building in 586.

 

Saxon buildings

Offa II of Mercia, who ruled in the 8th century, is said to have founded the Benedictine abbey and monastery at St Albans. All later religious structures are dated from the foundation of Offa's abbey in 793. The abbey was built on Holmhurst Hill—now Holywell Hill—across the River Ver from the ruins of Verulamium. Again there is no information to the form of the first abbey. The abbey was probably sacked by the Danes around 890 and, despite Paris's claims, the office of abbot remained empty from around 920 until the 970s when the efforts of Dunstanreached the town.

 

There was an intention to rebuild the abbey in 1005 when Abbot Ealdred was licensed to remove building material from Verulamium. With the town resting on clay and chalk the only tough stone is flint. This was used with a lime mortar and then either plastered over or left bare. With the great quantities of brick, tile and other stone in Verulamium the Roman site became a prime source of building material for the abbeys, and other projects in the area, up to the 18th century. Sections demanding worked stone used Lincolnshire limestone (Barnack stone) from Verulamium, later worked stones include Totternhoe freestone from Bedfordshire, Purbeck marble, and different limestones (Ancaster, Chilmark, Clipsham, etc.).

Renewed Viking raids from 1016 stalled the Saxon efforts and very little from the Saxon abbey was incorporated in the later forms.

 

The nave. The north wall (left) features a mix of Norman arches dating back to 1077 and arches in the Early English style of 1200.

 

Norman abbey

Much of the current layout and proportions of the structure date from the first Norman abbot, Paul of Caen (1077–1093). The 14th abbot, he was appointed by the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc.

 

Building work started in the year of Abbot Paul's arrival. The design and construction was overseen by the Norman Robert the Mason. The plan has very limited Anglo-Saxon elements and is clearly influenced by the French work at Cluny, Bernay, and Caen and shares a similar floor plan to Saint-Étienne and Lanfranc's Canterbury—although the poorer quality building material was a new challenge for Robert and he clearly borrowed some Roman techniques, learned while gathering material in Verulamium. To take maximum use of the hilltop the abbey was oriented to the south-east. The cruciform abbey was the largest built in England at that time, it had a chancel of four bays, a transept containing seven apses, and a nave of ten bays—fifteen bays long overall. Robert gave particular attention to solid foundations, running a continuous wall of layered bricks, flints and mortar below and pushing the foundations down to twelve feet to hit bedrock. Below the crossing tower special large stones were used.

 

The tower was a particular triumph—it is the only 11th century great crossing tower still standing in England. Robert began with special thick supporting walls and four massive brick piers. The four-level tower tapers at each stage with clasping buttresses on the three lower levels and circular buttresses on the fourth stage. The entire structure masses 5,000 tons and is 144 feet high. The tower was probably topped with a Norman pyramidal roof; the current roof is flat. The original ringing chamber had five bells—two paid for by the Abbot, two by a wealthy townsman, and one donated by the rector of Hoddesdon. None of these bells has survived.

There was a widespread belief that the abbey had two additional, smaller towers at the west end. No remains have been found.

 

The monastic abbey was completed in 1089 but not consecrated until Holy Innocents' Day, 1115, (28 Dec) by the Archbishop of Rouen. King Henry I attended as did many bishops and nobles.

A nunnery (Sopwell Priory) was founded nearby in 1140.

 

Internally the abbey was bare of sculpture, almost stark. The plaster walls were coloured and patterned in parts, with extensive tapestries adding colour. Sculptural decoration was added, mainly ornaments, as it became more fashionable in the 12th century—especially after the Gothic style arrived in England around 1170.

 

In the current structure the original Norman arches survive principally under the central tower and on the north side of the nave. The arches in the rest of the building are Gothic, following medieval rebuilding and extensions, and Victorian era restoration.

 

The abbey was extended in the 1190s by Abbot John de Cella (also known as John of Wallingford) (1195–1214); as the number of monks grew from fifty to over a hundred, the abbey was extended westwards with three bays added to the nave. The severe Norman west front was also rebuilt by Hugh de Goldclif—although how is uncertain, it was very costly but its 'rapid' weathering and later alterations have erased all but fragments. A more prominent shrine and altar to Saint Amphibalus were also added. The work was very slow under de Cella and was not completed until the time of Abbot William de Trumpington (1214–35). The low Norman tower roof was demolished and a new, much higher, broached spire was raised, sheathed in lead.

The St Albans Psalter (ca. 1130–45) is the best known of a number of important Romanesque illuminated manuscripts produced in the Abbey scriptorium. Later, Matthew Paris, a monk at St Albans from 1217 until his death in 1259, was important both as a chronicler and an artist. Eighteen of his manuscripts survive and are a rich source of contemporary information for historians.

Nicholas Breakspear was born near St Albans and applied to be admitted to the abbey as a novice, but he was turned down. He eventually managed to be accepted into an abbey in France. In 1154 he was elected Pope Adrian IV, the only English Pope there has ever been. The head of the abbey was confirmed as the premier abbot in England also in 1154.

 

13th to 15th centuries

 

An earthquake shook the abbey in 1250 and damaged the eastern end of the church. In 1257 the dangerously cracked sections were knocked down—three apses and two bays. The thick Presbytery wall supporting the tower was left. The rebuilding and updating was completed during the rule of Abbot Roger de Norton (1263–90).

 

On 10 October 1323 two piers on the south side of the nave collapsed dragging down much of the roof and wrecking five bays. Mason Henry Wy undertook the rebuilding, matching the Early English style of the rest of the bays but adding distinctly 14th century detailing and ornaments. The shrine to St Amphibalus had also been damaged and was remade.

 

Abbey Gateway, now part of St. Albans School.

Richard of Wallingford, abbot from 1297 to 1336 and a mathematician and astronomer, designed a celebrated clock, which was completed by William of Walsham after his death, but apparently destroyed during the reformation.

 

A new gateway, now called the Abbey Gateway, was built to the abbey grounds in 1365, which was the only part of the monastery buildings (besides the church) to survive the dissolution, later being used as a prison and now part of St Albans School. The other monastic buildings were located to the south of the gateway and church.

 

In the 15th century a large west window of nine main lights and a deep traced head was commissioned by John of Wheathampstead. The spire was reduced to a 'Hertfordshire spike', the roof pitch greatly reduced and battlements liberally added. Further new windows, at £50 each, were put in the transept by Abbot Wallingford (also known as William of Wallingford), who also had a new high altar screen made.

 

Dissolution and after

After the death of Abbot Ramryge in 1521 the abbey fell into debt and slow decay under three weak abbots. At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries and its surrender on 5 December 1539 the income was £2,100 annually. The abbot and remaining forty monks were pensioned off and then the buildings were looted. All gold, silver and gilt objects were carted away with all other valuables; stonework was broken and defaced and graves opened to burn the contents.

 

The abbey became part of the diocese of Lincoln in 1542 and was moved to the diocese of London in 1550. The buildings suffered—neglect, second-rate repairs, even active damage. Richard Lee purchased all the buildings, except the church and chapel and some other Crown premises, in 1550. Lee then began the systematic demolition for building material to improve Lee Hall at Sopwell. In 1551, with the stone removed, Lee returned the land to the abbot. The area was named Abbey Ruins for the next 200 years or so.

 

In 1553 the Lady chapel became a school, the Great Gatehouse a town jail, some other buildings passed to the Crown, and the Abbey Church was sold to the town for £400 in 1553 by King Edward VI to be the church of the parish.

 

The cost of upkeep fell upon the town, although in 1596 and at irregular intervals later the Archdeacon was allowed to collect money for repairs by Brief in the diocese. After James I visited in 1612 he authorised another Brief, which collected around £2,000—most of which went on roof repairs. The English Civil War slashed the monies spent on repairs, while the abbey was used to hold prisoners of war and suffered from their vandalism, as well as that of their guards. Most of the metal objects that had survived the Dissolution were also removed and other ornamental parts were damaged in Puritan sternness. Another round of fund-raising in 1681–84 was again spent on the roof, repairing the Presbytery vault. A royal grant from William and Mary in 1689 went on general maintenance, 'repairs' to conceal some of the unfashionable Gothic features, and on new internal fittings. There was a second royal grant from William in 1698.

By the end of the 17th century the dilapidation was sufficient for a number of writers to comment upon it.

 

In 1703, from 26 November to 1 December, the Great Storm raged across southern England; the abbey lost the south transept window which was replaced in wood at a cost of £40. The window was clear glass with five lights and three transoms in an early Gothic Revival style by John Hawgood. Other windows, although not damaged in the storm, were a constant drain on the abbey budget in the 18th century.

 

A brief in 1723–24, seeking £5,775, notes a great crack in the south wall, that the north wall was eighteen inches from vertical, and that the roof timbers were decayed to the point of danger. The money raised was spent on the nave roof over ten bays.

 

Another brief was not issued until 1764. Again the roof was rotting, as was the south transept window, walls were cracked or shattered in part and the south wall had subsided and now leant outwards. Despite a target of £2,500 a mere £600 was raised.

In the 1770s the abbey came close to demolition; the expense of repairs meant a scheme to destroy the abbey and erect a smaller church almost succeeded.

 

A storm in 1797 caused some subsidence, cracking open graves, scattering pavement tiles, flooding the church interior and leaving a few more arches off-vertical.

 

19th century

 

The Wallingford Screen of c. 1480—the statues are Victorian replacements (1884–89) of the originals, destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, when the screen itself was also damaged. Statues of St Alban and St Amphibalus stand on either side of the altar.

 

This century was marked with a number of repair schemes. The abbey received some money from the 1818 "Million Act", and in 1820 £450 was raised to buy an organ—a second-hand example made in 1670.

 

The major efforts to revive the abbey church came under four men—L. N. Cottingham, Rector H. J. B. Nicholson, and, especially, George Gilbert Scott and Edmund Beckett, first Baron Grimthorpe.

 

In February 1832 a portion of the clerestory wall fell through the roof of the south aisle, leaving a hole almost thirty feet long. With the need for serious repair work evident the architect Lewis Nockalls Cottingham was called in to survey the building. His Survey was presented in 1832 and was worrying reading: everywhere mortar was in a wretched condition and wooden beams were rotting and twisting. Cottingham recommended new beams throughout the roof and a new steeper pitch, removal of the spire and new timbers in the tower, new paving, ironwork to hold the west transept wall up, a new stone south transept window, new buttresses, a new drainage system for the roof, new ironwork on almost all the windows, and on and on. He estimated a cost of £14,000. A public subscription of £4,000 was raised, of which £1,700 vanished in expenses. With the limited funds the clerestory wall was rebuilt, the nave roof re-leaded, the tower spike removed, some forty blocked windows reopened and glazed, and the south window remade in stone.

 

Henry Nicholson, rector from 1835 to 1866, was also active in repairing the abbey church—as far as he could, and in uncovering lost or neglected Gothic features.

 

In 1856 repair efforts began again; £4,000 was raised and slow moves started to gain the abbey the status of cathedral. George Gilbert Scottwas appointed the project architect and oversaw a number of works from 1860 until his death in 1878.

Scott began by having the medieval floor restored, necessitating the removal of tons of earth, and fixing the north aisle roof. From 1872–77 the restored floors were re-tiled in matching stone and copies of old tile designs. A further 2,000 tons of earth were shifted in 1863 during work on the foundation and a new drainage system. In 1870 the tower piers were found to be badly weakened with many cracks and cavities. Huge timbers were inserted and the arches filled with brick as an emergency measure. Repair work took until May 1871 and cost over £2,000. The south wall of the nave was now far from straight; Scott reinforced the north wall and put in scaffolding to take the weight of the roof off the wall, then had it jacked straight in under three hours. The wall was then buttressed with five huge new masses and set right. Scott was lauded as "saviour of the Abbey." From 1870–75 around £20,000 was spent on the abbey.

In 1845 St Albans was transferred from the Diocese of Lincoln to the Diocese of Rochester. Then, in 1875, the Bishopric of St Albans Act was passed and on 30 April 1877 the See of St Albans was created, which comprises about 300 churches in the counties of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. The then Bishop of Rochester, the Right Revd Dr Thomas Legh Claughton, elected to take the northern division of his old diocese and on 12 June 1877 was enthroned first Bishop of St Albans, a position he held until 1890. He is buried in the churchyard on the north side of the nave.

George Gilbert Scott was working on the nave roof, vaulting and west bay when he died on 27 March 1878. His plans were partially completed by his son, John Oldrid Scott, but the remaining work fell into the hands of Lord Grimthorpe, whose efforts have attracted much controversy—Nikolaus Pevsner calling him a "pompous, righteous bully." However, he donated much of the immense sum of £130,000 the work cost.

 

Whereas Scott's work had clearly been in sympathy with the existing building, Grimthorpe's plans reflected the Victorian ideal. Indeed, he spent considerable time dismissing and criticising the work of Scott and the efforts of his son.

Grimthorpe first reinstated the original pitch of the roof, although the battlements added for the lower roof were retained. Completed in 1879, the roof was leaded, following on Scott's desires.

 

1805 engraving of the west front of the abbey showing the lost Wheathampstead window.

His second major project was the most controversial. The west front, with the great Wheathampstead window, was cracked and leaning, and Grimthorpe, never more than an amateur architect, designed the new front himself—attacked as dense, misproportioned and unsympathetic: "His impoverishment as a designer ... [is] evident"; "this man, so practical and ingenious, was utterly devoid of taste ... his great qualities were marred by arrogance ... and a lack of historic sense". Counter proposals were deliberately substituted by Grimthorpe for poorly drawn versions and Grimthorpe's design was accepted?. During building it was considerably reworked in order to fit the actual frontage and is not improved by the poor quality sculpture. Work began in 1880 and was completed in April 1883, having cost £20,000.

 

The Lady Chapel at the east end of the cathedral.

Grimthorpe was noted for his aversion to the Perpendicular—to the extent that he would have sections he disliked demolished as "too rotten" rather than remade. In his reconstruction, especially of windows, he commonly mixed architectural styles carelessly (see the south aisle, the south choir screen and vaulting). He spent £50,000 remaking the nave. Elsewhere he completely rebuilt the south wall cloisters, with new heavy buttresses, and removed the arcading of the east cloisters during rebuilding the south transept walls. In the south transept he completely remade the south face, completed in 1885, including the huge lancet window group—his proudest achievement—and the flanking turrets; a weighty new tiled roof was also made. In the north transept Grimthorpe had the Perpendicular window demolished and his design inserted—a rose window of circles, cusped circles and lozenges arrayed in five rings around the central light, sixty-four lights in total, each circle with a different glazing pattern.

 

Grimthorpe continued through the Presbytery in his own style, adapting the antechapel for Consistory Courts, and into the Lady Chapel. After a pointed lawsuit with Henry Hucks Gibbs, first Baron Aldenham over who should direct the restoration, Grimthorpe had the vault remade and reproportioned in stone, made the floor in black and white marble (1893), and had new Victorian arcading and sculpture put below the canopy work. Externally the buttresses were expanded to support the new roof, and the walls were refaced.

As early as 1897, Grimthorpe was having to return to previously renovated sections to make repairs. His use of over-strong cement led to cracking, while his fondness for ironwork in windows led to corrosion and damage to the surrounding stone.

Grimthorpe died in 1905 and was interred in the churchyard. He left a bequest for continuing work on the buildings.

 

During this century the name St Albans Abbey was given to one of the town's railway stations.

 

20th century

John Oldrid Scott (died 1913) (George Gilbert Scott's son), despite frequent clashes with Grimthorpe, had continued working within the cathedral. Scott was a steadfast supporter of the Gothic revival and designed the tomb of the first bishop; he had a new bishop's throne built (1903), together with commemorative stalls for Bishop Festing and two Archdeacons, and new choir stalls. He also repositioned and rebuilt the organ (1907). Further work was interrupted by the war.

A number of memorials to the war were added to the cathedral, notably the painting The Passing of Eleanor by Frank Salisbury (stolen 1973) and the reglazing of the main west window, dedicated in 1925.

 

Following the Enabling Act of 1919 control of the buildings passed to a Parochial Church Council (replaced by the Cathedral Council in 1968), who appointed the woodwork specialist John Rogers as Architect and Surveyor of the Fabric. He uncovered extensive death watch beetledamage in the presbytery vault and oversaw the repair (1930–31). He had four tons of rubbish removed from the crossing tower and the main timbers reinforced (1931–32), and invested in the extensive use of insecticide throughout the wood structures. In 1934, the eight bells were overhauled and four new bells added to be used in the celebration of George V's jubilee.

 

Cecil Brown was architect and surveyor from 1939 to 1962. At first he merely oversaw the lowering of the bells for the war and established a fire watch, with the pump in the slype. After the war, in the 1950s, the organ was removed, rebuilt and reinstalled and new pews added. His major work was on the crossing tower. Grimthorpe's cement was found to be damaging the Roman bricks: every brick in the tower was replaced as needed and reset in proper mortar by one man, Walter Barrett. The tower ceiling was renovated as were the nave murals. Brown established the Muniments Room to gather and hold all the church documents.

In 1972, to encourage a closer link between celebrant and congregation, the massive nine-ton pulpit along with the choir stalls and permanent pews was dismantled and removed. The altar space was enlarged and improved. New 'lighter' wood (limed oak) choir stalls were put in, and chairs replaced the pews. A new wooden pulpit was acquired from a Norfolk church and installed in 1974. External floodlighting was added in 1975.

A major survey in 1974 revealed new leaks, decay and other deterioration, and a ten-year restoration plan was agreed. Again the roofing required much work. The nave and clerestory roofs were repaired in four stages with new leading. The nave project was completed in 1984 at a total cost of £1.75 million. The clerestory windows were repaired with the corroded iron replaced with delta bronze and other Grimthorpe work on the clerestory was replaced. Seventy-two new heads for the corbel table were made. Grimthorpe's west front was cracking, again due to the use originally of too strong a mortar, and was repaired.

 

A new visitors' centre was proposed in 1970. Planning permission was sought in 1973; there was a public inquiry and approval was granted in 1977. Constructed to the south side of the cathedral close to the site of the original chapter house of the abbey, the new 'Chapter House' cost around £1 million and was officially opened on 8 June 1982 by Queen Elizabeth. The main building material was 500,000 replica Roman bricks.

 

Other late 20th-century works include the restoration of Alban's shrine, with a new embroidered canopy, and the stained glass designed by Alan Younger for Grimthorpe's north transept rose window, unveiled in 1989 by Diana, Princess of Wales.

 

Modern times

The Bishop is the Right Reverend Alan Smith, installed in September 2009. The Venerable Jonathan Smith is Archdeacon of St Albans, installed in October 2008. On 2 July 2004, the Very Reverend Canon Dr Jeffrey John became the ninth Dean of the Cathedral.

 

Robert Runcie, later Archbishop of Canterbury, was bishop of St Albans from 1970 to 1980 and returned to live in the city after his retirement; he is commemorated by a gargoyle on the Cathedral as well as being buried in the graveyard. Colin Slee, former Dean of Southwark Cathedral, was sub-dean at St Albans under Runcie and then Dean, Peter Moore. The bishop's house is in Abbey Mill Lane, St Albans, as is the house of the Bishop of Hertford. The Reverend Canon Eric James, Chaplain Extraordinary to HM the Queen, was Canon at St Albans for many years.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Albans_Cathedral

 

From signage in the church:

 

Between 1764 and 1781 the church was fitted with an ensemble of late Baroque fixtures: the pulpit, confessionals, pews and eleven altars. The ensemble displayed stylistic harmony, as well as a singleness of purpose-drawing attention to the main altar.

 

[The main altar] now contains the Crucifix that had previously hung above the altar of the Holy Cross. The cross was known to bestow special grace, and it was at this time that the fresco depicting this Crucifix was painted on the façade of the church. The identity of the person who designed the new interior furnishings is not now known. The interior was executed by several joiners (Giotto, Holtzas, Valteris and others are mentioned). Paintings for the altars were done by . . . a person with the surname Motiejus.

 

Between 1764 and 1768 Mikaloju Jansonas, a renowned organ builder of the day, restored the church organ and moved it from the side nave to a platform constructed at the back of the presbytery (choir). (At the end of the 19th century the organ was reconstructed once again and moved to the old balcony of the Bernardines.)

 

From the middle of the 18th century until the end of the 20th century the architecture and furnishings of the church remained largely unchanged. When the church was closed during the Soviet years, the painting over the altar, the liturgical vessels and other fixtures were scattered among museum collections or given to other churches.

 

The altar ensemble, which was disassembled for reconstruction has only been partially restored. In response to present-day liturgical requirements, a new altar created by Rimas Skakalauakas was constructed in 1998 and placed in the central nave of the church. The altar echoes the lines and shapes of the old Gothic belfry.

=====================

From Wikipedia:

 

The Church of St. Francis and St. Bernard (also known as Bernardine Church) is a Roman Catholic church in the Old Town of Vilnius, Lithuania. It is located next to St. Anne's Church. Dedicated to Saints Francis of Assisi and Bernardino of Siena, it is an important example of Gothic architecture in Lithuania.

 

History

After their arrival in Vilnius, Bernardine monks built a wooden church in the second half of the 15th century, and at the end of the same century - a brick one.

 

In the early 16th century it was reconstructed, apparently with the participation of a master from Gdansk (Danzig) Michael Enkinger.

 

In the beginning of the 16th century the church was incorporated into the construction of Vilnius defensive wall, so there are shooting openings in its walls.

 

Afterwards it was renewed many times, particularly after the 1655-61 war with Moscow, when the Cossacks ravaged the church killing the monks and citizens who had taken shelter there.

 

In the times of the Soviet occupation it was closed down and handed over to the Art institute.

 

In 1994, the brethren of St. Francis returned to the church.

 

Church and Monastery are some of the largest sacral buildings in Vilnius, although in the 17th and 18th centuries they acquired the Renaissance and Baroque features.

 

Being much larger and more archaic than the St. Anne's Church, it forms and interesting and unique ensemble with the latter.

 

Gothic pointed-arch windows and buttresses stand out on the façade. Above them rises a pediment with twin octagonal towers on the sides and a fresco depicting the Crucifix in the middle niche.

 

A Gothic presbytery is the oldest part of the church. Eight high pillars divide the church interior into 3 naves.

 

There are many valuable 16th-century wall paintings in Bernardine church and the oldest known artistic Lithuanian crucifix sculpture from the 15th century. [2]

 

The walls of the naves are decorated with Gothic polychrome frescoes, partly uncovered in 1981 - dynamic, colourful figural compositions on biblical and hagiographic themes, with occasional inscriptions in Gothic characters, floral ornaments, heraldic insignia etc.

 

These mural paintings date from the early 16th century and are considered unique in the world: their composition and type of presentation of the subject matter belongs to Renaissance, and the stylistics - to the Gothic style. [3]

 

The Bernardine monastery north of the church, built simultaneously with the church, was renovated and reconstructed several times. Since its founding, a novitiate and a seminary operated at the monastery, a rich library had been accumulated, and a scriptorium operated. There [were] artists, craftsmen and organists among the monks. The monastery was closed in 1864, and the building housed soldiers' barracks. In 1919 it was given to the art faculty of the university, later - to the Art Institute (now the Art Academy).

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St._Francis_and_St._Berna...

 

Inspirada en "El nombre de la Rosa" de Umberto Ecco. Recreación del Scriptorium.

Propiedad del Monasterio de Poio, expuesto en su famosa biblioteca.

  

www.mercedarios.com/biblioteca.htm

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_nombre_de_la_rosa

  

Técnica: oleo s./lienzo.

Medidas: 97 x 130 cms.

Catalogación: AC-27.(1984)

Reproducido pag.79 libro Artistas gallegos. Ed. Nova Galicia.

 

My entry to Summer Joust 2021 in category Monastery (surprising, isnt't it?)

 

I took inspiration from various examples of gothic architecture in Europe. The model includes interiors: a cathedral, scriptorium , pantry and two cells.

The monasteries of San Millán de Suso (6th century) and San Millán de Yuso (11th century) are two monasteries situated in the village of San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja, Spain. They have been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since December 1997.

The two monasteries' names Suso and Yuso mean the "upper" and the "lower" in archaic Castilian, respectively. Suso is the older building and is believed to be built on the site of a hermitage where Saint Emilian (Spanish: San Millán) lived. Perhaps Suso's major claim to fame is as the place where phrases in the Spanish and Basque languages were written for the first time. UNESCO acknowledges the property "as the birthplace of the modern written and spoken Spanish language". The phrases in Spanish and Basque are glosses on a Latin text and are known as the Glosas Emilianenses. There is some debate as to whether the Spanish words are written in an early form of Castilian or in a related dialect. In either case, San Millán's importance as a cradle of the Spanish language is reinforced by the proximity of the village of Berceo which is associated with Gonzalo de Berceo, the first Spanish poet known by name.

There is a continuous history of Christianity at San Millán since the time of the saint. The scriptorium produced the second phase of the San Millán Beatus and remained active during the period of Muslim rule; and over the centuries, the religious community has overcome various vicissitudes which affected the monasteries (for example being sacked by the Black Prince). However the type of monastic life evolved: the original monks living at Suso were hermits, but Yuso, the refoundation of the monastery on a lower site, developed as a Benedictine community. As the UNESCO evaluation noted, San Millán shows the transformation from an eremetic to a cenobitic community in material terms.

Suso monastery has been uninhabited since the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal in the nineteenth century. Yuso monastery was also abandoned for some years in the nineteenth century, but was reoccupied. It houses an Augustinian community, but part of the monastery has been converted into a hotel. Today San Millán attracts pilgrims on the Way of St James (even though it lies somewhat off the line of the official route between Nájera and Burgos).

 

Monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla - Wikipedia

  

El Real Monasterio de San Millán de Yuso (yuso significaba 'abajo' en castellano antiguo) está situado en la villa de San Millán de la Cogolla, Comunidad Autónoma de La Rioja (España), en la margen izquierda del río Cárdenas, en pleno valle de San Millán. Forma parte del conjunto monumental de dos monasterios, junto con el más antiguo Monasterio de San Millán de Suso («de arriba»).

Este monasterio fue mandado construir en el año 1053 por el rey García Sánchez III de Navarra «el de Nájera». La historia de su fundación va unida a una leyenda basada en un milagro de san Millán (o Emiliano), un joven pastor que se hace ermitaño. Cuando en 574 muere Millán, a la edad de 101 años, sus discípulos lo entierran en su cueva, y alrededor de ella se va formando el primer monasterio, el de San Millán de Suso. San Braulio, cincuenta años después de muerto san Millán, escribe la vida de este.

El rey navarro García III era muy devoto de San Millán. Como acababa de fundar el gran monasterio de Santa María la Real de Nájera en esta ciudad que era corte del reino, quiso llevarse allí los restos mortales del santo, que estaban enterrados en el monasterio de San Millán de Suso. El 29 de mayo de 1053 colocaron los restos del Santo en una carreta tirada por bueyes y así emprendieron el viaje, con gran descontento de los monjes que allí quedaban desolados por la pérdida de su patrono. Cuando llegaron al llano, cerca del río, los bueyes se detuvieron y ya no quisieron volver a andar; no hubo forma de obligarlos. El rey y toda la comitiva comprendieron que aquello era un milagro, que San Millán estaba imponiendo su voluntad de no pasar de allí y ser enterrado de nuevo en aquellos lugares. Fue entonces cuando el rey mandó construir el reciente monasterio, al que se llamó Yuso (abajo), en contraposición con el de arriba (Suso).

Hasta al menos el año 1100, coexistieron los dos monasterios, el de arriba, Suso, y el de abajo, Yuso. El primero permanece fiel a la tradición: regla mozárabe y carácter dúplice de doble comunidad masculina y femenina. El segundo, reformado con la regla benedictina. A partir del siglo XII solo hay una comunidad de monjes, la benedictina, con una casa principal, la de Yuso (abajo). Los siglos X y XI son los de mayor esplendor en lo espiritual, religioso, artístico y cultural.

En 1809 los benedictinos son expulsados por primera vez cumpliendo el decreto de José Bonaparte. Vuelven en 1813. Son expulsados de nuevo durante el periodo constitucional del reinado de Fernando VII, entre diciembre de 1820 y julio de 1823. La hacienda real vendió entonces la botica en subasta pública. La tercera y última expulsión de la comunidad benedictina será debida a la desamortización eclesiástica de Mendizábal. Yuso permanece abandonado durante treinta y un años, desde noviembre de 1835. Entre 1866 y 1868 se establece una casa de misioneros franciscanos de Bermeo y, tras diez años de abandono, en 1878 fue ocupado por los frailes de la Orden de Agustinos Recoletos como casa destinada a la formación de los misioneros destinados a Filipinas. Las primeras obras de rehabilitación que se efectuaron por parte de los agustinos recoletos las realiza Fray Toribio Minguella.

El monasterio fue construido en estilo románico, como correspondía a la época. Es demolido en su totalidad y reconstruido en el siglo XVI, en estilo herreriano, de los siglos XVII y XVIII.

 

Monasterio de San Millán de Yuso - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

 

Yuso – Monasterio de San Millán (monasteriodesanmillan.com)

 

San Millán Yuso and Suso Monasteries - UNESCO World Heritage Centre

 

St Albans Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, is a Church of England cathedral church within St Albans, England. At 84 metres (276 ft), its nave is the longest of any cathedral in England. With much of its present architecture dating from Norman times, it was formerly known as St Albans Abbey before it became a cathedral in 1877. It is the second longest cathedral in the United Kingdom (after Winchester). Local residents often call it "the abbey", although the present cathedral represents only the church of the old Benedictine abbey.

 

The abbey church, although legally a cathedral church, differs in certain particulars from most of the other cathedrals in England: it is also used as a parish church, of which the dean is rector. He has the same powers, responsibilities and duties as the rector of any other parish.

 

Alban was a pagan living in the Roman city of Verulamium, now Verulamium Park, in St Albans, in Hertfordshire, England, about 22 miles (35 km) north of London along Watling Street. Before Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, local Christians were being persecuted by the Romans. Alban sheltered their priest, Saint Amphibalus, in his home and was converted to the Christian faith by him. When the soldiers came to Alban's house looking for the priest, Alban exchanged cloaks with the priest and let himself be arrested in his place. Alban was taken before the magistrate, where he avowed his new Christian faith and was condemned for it. He was beheaded, according to legend, on the spot where the cathedral named after him now stands. The site is on a steep hill and legend has it that his head rolled down the hill after being cut off and that a well sprang up at the point where it stopped.

A well certainly exists today and the road up to the cathedral is named Holywell Hill. However the current well structure is no older than the late 19th century and it is thought that the name of the street derives from the "Halywell" river and "Halywell Bridge", not from the well.

 

The date of Alban's execution is a matter of some debate and is generally given as "circa 250"—scholars generally suggest dates of 209, 254 or 304.

 

History of the abbey and cathedral

 

A memoria over the execution point and holding the remains of Alban existed at the site from the mid-4th century (possibly earlier); Bedementions a church and Gildas a shrine. Bishop Germanus of Auxerre visited in 429 and took a portion of the apparently still bloody earth away. The style of this structure is unknown; the 13th century chronicler Matthew Paris (see below) claimed that the Saxons destroyed the building in 586.

 

Saxon buildings

Offa II of Mercia, who ruled in the 8th century, is said to have founded the Benedictine abbey and monastery at St Albans. All later religious structures are dated from the foundation of Offa's abbey in 793. The abbey was built on Holmhurst Hill—now Holywell Hill—across the River Ver from the ruins of Verulamium. Again there is no information to the form of the first abbey. The abbey was probably sacked by the Danes around 890 and, despite Paris's claims, the office of abbot remained empty from around 920 until the 970s when the efforts of Dunstanreached the town.

 

There was an intention to rebuild the abbey in 1005 when Abbot Ealdred was licensed to remove building material from Verulamium. With the town resting on clay and chalk the only tough stone is flint. This was used with a lime mortar and then either plastered over or left bare. With the great quantities of brick, tile and other stone in Verulamium the Roman site became a prime source of building material for the abbeys, and other projects in the area, up to the 18th century. Sections demanding worked stone used Lincolnshire limestone (Barnack stone) from Verulamium, later worked stones include Totternhoe freestone from Bedfordshire, Purbeck marble, and different limestones (Ancaster, Chilmark, Clipsham, etc.).

Renewed Viking raids from 1016 stalled the Saxon efforts and very little from the Saxon abbey was incorporated in the later forms.

 

The nave. The north wall (left) features a mix of Norman arches dating back to 1077 and arches in the Early English style of 1200.

 

Norman abbey

Much of the current layout and proportions of the structure date from the first Norman abbot, Paul of Caen (1077–1093). The 14th abbot, he was appointed by the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc.

 

Building work started in the year of Abbot Paul's arrival. The design and construction was overseen by the Norman Robert the Mason. The plan has very limited Anglo-Saxon elements and is clearly influenced by the French work at Cluny, Bernay, and Caen and shares a similar floor plan to Saint-Étienne and Lanfranc's Canterbury—although the poorer quality building material was a new challenge for Robert and he clearly borrowed some Roman techniques, learned while gathering material in Verulamium. To take maximum use of the hilltop the abbey was oriented to the south-east. The cruciform abbey was the largest built in England at that time, it had a chancel of four bays, a transept containing seven apses, and a nave of ten bays—fifteen bays long overall. Robert gave particular attention to solid foundations, running a continuous wall of layered bricks, flints and mortar below and pushing the foundations down to twelve feet to hit bedrock. Below the crossing tower special large stones were used.

 

The tower was a particular triumph—it is the only 11th century great crossing tower still standing in England. Robert began with special thick supporting walls and four massive brick piers. The four-level tower tapers at each stage with clasping buttresses on the three lower levels and circular buttresses on the fourth stage. The entire structure masses 5,000 tons and is 144 feet high. The tower was probably topped with a Norman pyramidal roof; the current roof is flat. The original ringing chamber had five bells—two paid for by the Abbot, two by a wealthy townsman, and one donated by the rector of Hoddesdon. None of these bells has survived.

There was a widespread belief that the abbey had two additional, smaller towers at the west end. No remains have been found.

 

The monastic abbey was completed in 1089 but not consecrated until Holy Innocents' Day, 1115, (28 Dec) by the Archbishop of Rouen. King Henry I attended as did many bishops and nobles.

A nunnery (Sopwell Priory) was founded nearby in 1140.

 

Internally the abbey was bare of sculpture, almost stark. The plaster walls were coloured and patterned in parts, with extensive tapestries adding colour. Sculptural decoration was added, mainly ornaments, as it became more fashionable in the 12th century—especially after the Gothic style arrived in England around 1170.

 

In the current structure the original Norman arches survive principally under the central tower and on the north side of the nave. The arches in the rest of the building are Gothic, following medieval rebuilding and extensions, and Victorian era restoration.

 

The abbey was extended in the 1190s by Abbot John de Cella (also known as John of Wallingford) (1195–1214); as the number of monks grew from fifty to over a hundred, the abbey was extended westwards with three bays added to the nave. The severe Norman west front was also rebuilt by Hugh de Goldclif—although how is uncertain, it was very costly but its 'rapid' weathering and later alterations have erased all but fragments. A more prominent shrine and altar to Saint Amphibalus were also added. The work was very slow under de Cella and was not completed until the time of Abbot William de Trumpington (1214–35). The low Norman tower roof was demolished and a new, much higher, broached spire was raised, sheathed in lead.

The St Albans Psalter (ca. 1130–45) is the best known of a number of important Romanesque illuminated manuscripts produced in the Abbey scriptorium. Later, Matthew Paris, a monk at St Albans from 1217 until his death in 1259, was important both as a chronicler and an artist. Eighteen of his manuscripts survive and are a rich source of contemporary information for historians.

Nicholas Breakspear was born near St Albans and applied to be admitted to the abbey as a novice, but he was turned down. He eventually managed to be accepted into an abbey in France. In 1154 he was elected Pope Adrian IV, the only English Pope there has ever been. The head of the abbey was confirmed as the premier abbot in England also in 1154.

 

13th to 15th centuries

 

An earthquake shook the abbey in 1250 and damaged the eastern end of the church. In 1257 the dangerously cracked sections were knocked down—three apses and two bays. The thick Presbytery wall supporting the tower was left. The rebuilding and updating was completed during the rule of Abbot Roger de Norton (1263–90).

 

On 10 October 1323 two piers on the south side of the nave collapsed dragging down much of the roof and wrecking five bays. Mason Henry Wy undertook the rebuilding, matching the Early English style of the rest of the bays but adding distinctly 14th century detailing and ornaments. The shrine to St Amphibalus had also been damaged and was remade.

 

Abbey Gateway, now part of St. Albans School.

Richard of Wallingford, abbot from 1297 to 1336 and a mathematician and astronomer, designed a celebrated clock, which was completed by William of Walsham after his death, but apparently destroyed during the reformation.

 

A new gateway, now called the Abbey Gateway, was built to the abbey grounds in 1365, which was the only part of the monastery buildings (besides the church) to survive the dissolution, later being used as a prison and now part of St Albans School. The other monastic buildings were located to the south of the gateway and church.

 

In the 15th century a large west window of nine main lights and a deep traced head was commissioned by John of Wheathampstead. The spire was reduced to a 'Hertfordshire spike', the roof pitch greatly reduced and battlements liberally added. Further new windows, at £50 each, were put in the transept by Abbot Wallingford (also known as William of Wallingford), who also had a new high altar screen made.

 

Dissolution and after

After the death of Abbot Ramryge in 1521 the abbey fell into debt and slow decay under three weak abbots. At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries and its surrender on 5 December 1539 the income was £2,100 annually. The abbot and remaining forty monks were pensioned off and then the buildings were looted. All gold, silver and gilt objects were carted away with all other valuables; stonework was broken and defaced and graves opened to burn the contents.

 

The abbey became part of the diocese of Lincoln in 1542 and was moved to the diocese of London in 1550. The buildings suffered—neglect, second-rate repairs, even active damage. Richard Lee purchased all the buildings, except the church and chapel and some other Crown premises, in 1550. Lee then began the systematic demolition for building material to improve Lee Hall at Sopwell. In 1551, with the stone removed, Lee returned the land to the abbot. The area was named Abbey Ruins for the next 200 years or so.

 

In 1553 the Lady chapel became a school, the Great Gatehouse a town jail, some other buildings passed to the Crown, and the Abbey Church was sold to the town for £400 in 1553 by King Edward VI to be the church of the parish.

 

The cost of upkeep fell upon the town, although in 1596 and at irregular intervals later the Archdeacon was allowed to collect money for repairs by Brief in the diocese. After James I visited in 1612 he authorised another Brief, which collected around £2,000—most of which went on roof repairs. The English Civil War slashed the monies spent on repairs, while the abbey was used to hold prisoners of war and suffered from their vandalism, as well as that of their guards. Most of the metal objects that had survived the Dissolution were also removed and other ornamental parts were damaged in Puritan sternness. Another round of fund-raising in 1681–84 was again spent on the roof, repairing the Presbytery vault. A royal grant from William and Mary in 1689 went on general maintenance, 'repairs' to conceal some of the unfashionable Gothic features, and on new internal fittings. There was a second royal grant from William in 1698.

By the end of the 17th century the dilapidation was sufficient for a number of writers to comment upon it.

 

In 1703, from 26 November to 1 December, the Great Storm raged across southern England; the abbey lost the south transept window which was replaced in wood at a cost of £40. The window was clear glass with five lights and three transoms in an early Gothic Revival style by John Hawgood. Other windows, although not damaged in the storm, were a constant drain on the abbey budget in the 18th century.

 

A brief in 1723–24, seeking £5,775, notes a great crack in the south wall, that the north wall was eighteen inches from vertical, and that the roof timbers were decayed to the point of danger. The money raised was spent on the nave roof over ten bays.

 

Another brief was not issued until 1764. Again the roof was rotting, as was the south transept window, walls were cracked or shattered in part and the south wall had subsided and now leant outwards. Despite a target of £2,500 a mere £600 was raised.

In the 1770s the abbey came close to demolition; the expense of repairs meant a scheme to destroy the abbey and erect a smaller church almost succeeded.

 

A storm in 1797 caused some subsidence, cracking open graves, scattering pavement tiles, flooding the church interior and leaving a few more arches off-vertical.

 

19th century

 

The Wallingford Screen of c. 1480—the statues are Victorian replacements (1884–89) of the originals, destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, when the screen itself was also damaged. Statues of St Alban and St Amphibalus stand on either side of the altar.

 

This century was marked with a number of repair schemes. The abbey received some money from the 1818 "Million Act", and in 1820 £450 was raised to buy an organ—a second-hand example made in 1670.

 

The major efforts to revive the abbey church came under four men—L. N. Cottingham, Rector H. J. B. Nicholson, and, especially, George Gilbert Scott and Edmund Beckett, first Baron Grimthorpe.

 

In February 1832 a portion of the clerestory wall fell through the roof of the south aisle, leaving a hole almost thirty feet long. With the need for serious repair work evident the architect Lewis Nockalls Cottingham was called in to survey the building. His Survey was presented in 1832 and was worrying reading: everywhere mortar was in a wretched condition and wooden beams were rotting and twisting. Cottingham recommended new beams throughout the roof and a new steeper pitch, removal of the spire and new timbers in the tower, new paving, ironwork to hold the west transept wall up, a new stone south transept window, new buttresses, a new drainage system for the roof, new ironwork on almost all the windows, and on and on. He estimated a cost of £14,000. A public subscription of £4,000 was raised, of which £1,700 vanished in expenses. With the limited funds the clerestory wall was rebuilt, the nave roof re-leaded, the tower spike removed, some forty blocked windows reopened and glazed, and the south window remade in stone.

 

Henry Nicholson, rector from 1835 to 1866, was also active in repairing the abbey church—as far as he could, and in uncovering lost or neglected Gothic features.

 

In 1856 repair efforts began again; £4,000 was raised and slow moves started to gain the abbey the status of cathedral. George Gilbert Scottwas appointed the project architect and oversaw a number of works from 1860 until his death in 1878.

Scott began by having the medieval floor restored, necessitating the removal of tons of earth, and fixing the north aisle roof. From 1872–77 the restored floors were re-tiled in matching stone and copies of old tile designs. A further 2,000 tons of earth were shifted in 1863 during work on the foundation and a new drainage system. In 1870 the tower piers were found to be badly weakened with many cracks and cavities. Huge timbers were inserted and the arches filled with brick as an emergency measure. Repair work took until May 1871 and cost over £2,000. The south wall of the nave was now far from straight; Scott reinforced the north wall and put in scaffolding to take the weight of the roof off the wall, then had it jacked straight in under three hours. The wall was then buttressed with five huge new masses and set right. Scott was lauded as "saviour of the Abbey." From 1870–75 around £20,000 was spent on the abbey.

In 1845 St Albans was transferred from the Diocese of Lincoln to the Diocese of Rochester. Then, in 1875, the Bishopric of St Albans Act was passed and on 30 April 1877 the See of St Albans was created, which comprises about 300 churches in the counties of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. The then Bishop of Rochester, the Right Revd Dr Thomas Legh Claughton, elected to take the northern division of his old diocese and on 12 June 1877 was enthroned first Bishop of St Albans, a position he held until 1890. He is buried in the churchyard on the north side of the nave.

George Gilbert Scott was working on the nave roof, vaulting and west bay when he died on 27 March 1878. His plans were partially completed by his son, John Oldrid Scott, but the remaining work fell into the hands of Lord Grimthorpe, whose efforts have attracted much controversy—Nikolaus Pevsner calling him a "pompous, righteous bully." However, he donated much of the immense sum of £130,000 the work cost.

 

Whereas Scott's work had clearly been in sympathy with the existing building, Grimthorpe's plans reflected the Victorian ideal. Indeed, he spent considerable time dismissing and criticising the work of Scott and the efforts of his son.

Grimthorpe first reinstated the original pitch of the roof, although the battlements added for the lower roof were retained. Completed in 1879, the roof was leaded, following on Scott's desires.

 

1805 engraving of the west front of the abbey showing the lost Wheathampstead window.

His second major project was the most controversial. The west front, with the great Wheathampstead window, was cracked and leaning, and Grimthorpe, never more than an amateur architect, designed the new front himself—attacked as dense, misproportioned and unsympathetic: "His impoverishment as a designer ... [is] evident"; "this man, so practical and ingenious, was utterly devoid of taste ... his great qualities were marred by arrogance ... and a lack of historic sense". Counter proposals were deliberately substituted by Grimthorpe for poorly drawn versions and Grimthorpe's design was accepted?. During building it was considerably reworked in order to fit the actual frontage and is not improved by the poor quality sculpture. Work began in 1880 and was completed in April 1883, having cost £20,000.

 

The Lady Chapel at the east end of the cathedral.

Grimthorpe was noted for his aversion to the Perpendicular—to the extent that he would have sections he disliked demolished as "too rotten" rather than remade. In his reconstruction, especially of windows, he commonly mixed architectural styles carelessly (see the south aisle, the south choir screen and vaulting). He spent £50,000 remaking the nave. Elsewhere he completely rebuilt the south wall cloisters, with new heavy buttresses, and removed the arcading of the east cloisters during rebuilding the south transept walls. In the south transept he completely remade the south face, completed in 1885, including the huge lancet window group—his proudest achievement—and the flanking turrets; a weighty new tiled roof was also made. In the north transept Grimthorpe had the Perpendicular window demolished and his design inserted—a rose window of circles, cusped circles and lozenges arrayed in five rings around the central light, sixty-four lights in total, each circle with a different glazing pattern.

 

Grimthorpe continued through the Presbytery in his own style, adapting the antechapel for Consistory Courts, and into the Lady Chapel. After a pointed lawsuit with Henry Hucks Gibbs, first Baron Aldenham over who should direct the restoration, Grimthorpe had the vault remade and reproportioned in stone, made the floor in black and white marble (1893), and had new Victorian arcading and sculpture put below the canopy work. Externally the buttresses were expanded to support the new roof, and the walls were refaced.

As early as 1897, Grimthorpe was having to return to previously renovated sections to make repairs. His use of over-strong cement led to cracking, while his fondness for ironwork in windows led to corrosion and damage to the surrounding stone.

Grimthorpe died in 1905 and was interred in the churchyard. He left a bequest for continuing work on the buildings.

 

During this century the name St Albans Abbey was given to one of the town's railway stations.

 

20th century

John Oldrid Scott (died 1913) (George Gilbert Scott's son), despite frequent clashes with Grimthorpe, had continued working within the cathedral. Scott was a steadfast supporter of the Gothic revival and designed the tomb of the first bishop; he had a new bishop's throne built (1903), together with commemorative stalls for Bishop Festing and two Archdeacons, and new choir stalls. He also repositioned and rebuilt the organ (1907). Further work was interrupted by the war.

A number of memorials to the war were added to the cathedral, notably the painting The Passing of Eleanor by Frank Salisbury (stolen 1973) and the reglazing of the main west window, dedicated in 1925.

 

Following the Enabling Act of 1919 control of the buildings passed to a Parochial Church Council (replaced by the Cathedral Council in 1968), who appointed the woodwork specialist John Rogers as Architect and Surveyor of the Fabric. He uncovered extensive death watch beetledamage in the presbytery vault and oversaw the repair (1930–31). He had four tons of rubbish removed from the crossing tower and the main timbers reinforced (1931–32), and invested in the extensive use of insecticide throughout the wood structures. In 1934, the eight bells were overhauled and four new bells added to be used in the celebration of George V's jubilee.

 

Cecil Brown was architect and surveyor from 1939 to 1962. At first he merely oversaw the lowering of the bells for the war and established a fire watch, with the pump in the slype. After the war, in the 1950s, the organ was removed, rebuilt and reinstalled and new pews added. His major work was on the crossing tower. Grimthorpe's cement was found to be damaging the Roman bricks: every brick in the tower was replaced as needed and reset in proper mortar by one man, Walter Barrett. The tower ceiling was renovated as were the nave murals. Brown established the Muniments Room to gather and hold all the church documents.

In 1972, to encourage a closer link between celebrant and congregation, the massive nine-ton pulpit along with the choir stalls and permanent pews was dismantled and removed. The altar space was enlarged and improved. New 'lighter' wood (limed oak) choir stalls were put in, and chairs replaced the pews. A new wooden pulpit was acquired from a Norfolk church and installed in 1974. External floodlighting was added in 1975.

A major survey in 1974 revealed new leaks, decay and other deterioration, and a ten-year restoration plan was agreed. Again the roofing required much work. The nave and clerestory roofs were repaired in four stages with new leading. The nave project was completed in 1984 at a total cost of £1.75 million. The clerestory windows were repaired with the corroded iron replaced with delta bronze and other Grimthorpe work on the clerestory was replaced. Seventy-two new heads for the corbel table were made. Grimthorpe's west front was cracking, again due to the use originally of too strong a mortar, and was repaired.

 

A new visitors' centre was proposed in 1970. Planning permission was sought in 1973; there was a public inquiry and approval was granted in 1977. Constructed to the south side of the cathedral close to the site of the original chapter house of the abbey, the new 'Chapter House' cost around £1 million and was officially opened on 8 June 1982 by Queen Elizabeth. The main building material was 500,000 replica Roman bricks.

 

Other late 20th-century works include the restoration of Alban's shrine, with a new embroidered canopy, and the stained glass designed by Alan Younger for Grimthorpe's north transept rose window, unveiled in 1989 by Diana, Princess of Wales.

 

Modern times

The Bishop is the Right Reverend Alan Smith, installed in September 2009. The Venerable Jonathan Smith is Archdeacon of St Albans, installed in October 2008. On 2 July 2004, the Very Reverend Canon Dr Jeffrey John became the ninth Dean of the Cathedral.

 

Robert Runcie, later Archbishop of Canterbury, was bishop of St Albans from 1970 to 1980 and returned to live in the city after his retirement; he is commemorated by a gargoyle on the Cathedral as well as being buried in the graveyard. Colin Slee, former Dean of Southwark Cathedral, was sub-dean at St Albans under Runcie and then Dean, Peter Moore. The bishop's house is in Abbey Mill Lane, St Albans, as is the house of the Bishop of Hertford. The Reverend Canon Eric James, Chaplain Extraordinary to HM the Queen, was Canon at St Albans for many years.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Albans_Cathedral

 

The monasteries of San Millán de Suso (6th century) and San Millán de Yuso (11th century) are two monasteries situated in the village of San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja, Spain. They have been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since December 1997.

The two monasteries' names Suso and Yuso mean the "upper" and the "lower" in archaic Castilian, respectively. Suso is the older building and is believed to be built on the site of a hermitage where Saint Emilian (Spanish: San Millán) lived. Perhaps Suso's major claim to fame is as the place where phrases in the Spanish and Basque languages were written for the first time. UNESCO acknowledges the property "as the birthplace of the modern written and spoken Spanish language". The phrases in Spanish and Basque are glosses on a Latin text and are known as the Glosas Emilianenses. There is some debate as to whether the Spanish words are written in an early form of Castilian or in a related dialect. In either case, San Millán's importance as a cradle of the Spanish language is reinforced by the proximity of the village of Berceo which is associated with Gonzalo de Berceo, the first Spanish poet known by name.

There is a continuous history of Christianity at San Millán since the time of the saint. The scriptorium produced the second phase of the San Millán Beatus and remained active during the period of Muslim rule; and over the centuries, the religious community has overcome various vicissitudes which affected the monasteries (for example being sacked by the Black Prince). However the type of monastic life evolved: the original monks living at Suso were hermits, but Yuso, the refoundation of the monastery on a lower site, developed as a Benedictine community. As the UNESCO evaluation noted, San Millán shows the transformation from an eremetic to a cenobitic community in material terms.

Suso monastery has been uninhabited since the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal in the nineteenth century. Yuso monastery was also abandoned for some years in the nineteenth century, but was reoccupied. It houses an Augustinian community, but part of the monastery has been converted into a hotel. Today San Millán attracts pilgrims on the Way of St James (even though it lies somewhat off the line of the official route between Nájera and Burgos).

 

Monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla - Wikipedia

  

El Real Monasterio de San Millán de Yuso (yuso significaba 'abajo' en castellano antiguo) está situado en la villa de San Millán de la Cogolla, Comunidad Autónoma de La Rioja (España), en la margen izquierda del río Cárdenas, en pleno valle de San Millán. Forma parte del conjunto monumental de dos monasterios, junto con el más antiguo Monasterio de San Millán de Suso («de arriba»).

Este monasterio fue mandado construir en el año 1053 por el rey García Sánchez III de Navarra «el de Nájera». La historia de su fundación va unida a una leyenda basada en un milagro de san Millán (o Emiliano), un joven pastor que se hace ermitaño. Cuando en 574 muere Millán, a la edad de 101 años, sus discípulos lo entierran en su cueva, y alrededor de ella se va formando el primer monasterio, el de San Millán de Suso. San Braulio, cincuenta años después de muerto san Millán, escribe la vida de este.

El rey navarro García III era muy devoto de San Millán. Como acababa de fundar el gran monasterio de Santa María la Real de Nájera en esta ciudad que era corte del reino, quiso llevarse allí los restos mortales del santo, que estaban enterrados en el monasterio de San Millán de Suso. El 29 de mayo de 1053 colocaron los restos del Santo en una carreta tirada por bueyes y así emprendieron el viaje, con gran descontento de los monjes que allí quedaban desolados por la pérdida de su patrono. Cuando llegaron al llano, cerca del río, los bueyes se detuvieron y ya no quisieron volver a andar; no hubo forma de obligarlos. El rey y toda la comitiva comprendieron que aquello era un milagro, que San Millán estaba imponiendo su voluntad de no pasar de allí y ser enterrado de nuevo en aquellos lugares. Fue entonces cuando el rey mandó construir el reciente monasterio, al que se llamó Yuso (abajo), en contraposición con el de arriba (Suso).

Hasta al menos el año 1100, coexistieron los dos monasterios, el de arriba, Suso, y el de abajo, Yuso. El primero permanece fiel a la tradición: regla mozárabe y carácter dúplice de doble comunidad masculina y femenina. El segundo, reformado con la regla benedictina. A partir del siglo XII solo hay una comunidad de monjes, la benedictina, con una casa principal, la de Yuso (abajo). Los siglos X y XI son los de mayor esplendor en lo espiritual, religioso, artístico y cultural.

En 1809 los benedictinos son expulsados por primera vez cumpliendo el decreto de José Bonaparte. Vuelven en 1813. Son expulsados de nuevo durante el periodo constitucional del reinado de Fernando VII, entre diciembre de 1820 y julio de 1823. La hacienda real vendió entonces la botica en subasta pública. La tercera y última expulsión de la comunidad benedictina será debida a la desamortización eclesiástica de Mendizábal. Yuso permanece abandonado durante treinta y un años, desde noviembre de 1835. Entre 1866 y 1868 se establece una casa de misioneros franciscanos de Bermeo y, tras diez años de abandono, en 1878 fue ocupado por los frailes de la Orden de Agustinos Recoletos como casa destinada a la formación de los misioneros destinados a Filipinas. Las primeras obras de rehabilitación que se efectuaron por parte de los agustinos recoletos las realiza Fray Toribio Minguella.

El monasterio fue construido en estilo románico, como correspondía a la época. Es demolido en su totalidad y reconstruido en el siglo XVI, en estilo herreriano, de los siglos XVII y XVIII.

 

Monasterio de San Millán de Yuso - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

 

Yuso – Monasterio de San Millán (monasteriodesanmillan.com)

 

San Millán Yuso and Suso Monasteries - UNESCO World Heritage Centre

  

Manuscript title: Evangelary of Erchenbaldus

 

Manuscript summary: This 10th century Latin manuscript originated in the St. Gall scriptorium. It belonged to the Bishop of Strasbourg Erchembald (965-991) and was kept in the Cathedral of Strasbourg. The humanist Wimpheling mentions consulting it in Strasbourg in the early years of the 16th century. This manuscript appeared in the sales catalog of the Ambroise Firmin-Didot collection and was bought by the Mulhouse alderman Armand Weiss (1821-1892); after his death, he left it to the Industrial Society of Mulhouse. The Carolingian Gospel Book was written on vellum and contains 300 initials decorated with gold and silver. The beginning and end of the manuscript contain historical annotations. The original binding no longer exists; it was replaced with a contemporary binding during restoration at the Bibliothèque Nationale around 1970.

 

Origin: St. Gall (Switzerland)

 

Period: 10th century

 

Image source: Mulhouse, Bibliothèque municipale, AW 1, f. 76r – Evangelary of Erchenbaldus (www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/bmm/Erk)